India, July 22 -- On July 20, thousands of students converged on Jantar Mantar for CJP's "Chalo Sansad" march, demanding accountability from a Government that has spent years disclaiming responsibility for the state of the education system it presides over. What had begun as an orderly, almost procedural demonstration transformed by evening curdled into scenes of lathi charges, tear gas fired in sustained volleys, and crowds pressed against barricades with nowhere left to go.

I was there. What follows is my own account, alongside testimonies I gathered from four peers who were present at different points along the march route - Aditi, Vikram, Saira*, and Palak. Read together, their accounts do not converge on a single narrative so much a...