India, July 21 -- They came in the rain. They came from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Assam, and Madhya Pradesh. They came because a girl named Riya Thapa had died by suicide, because the NEET paper had leaked, and because nobody in government had resigned. They gathered at Jantar Mantar from Sunday night, slept on the wet ground, and on Monday morning, they tried to walk to Parliament. Delhi Police, which had imposed Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita across the New Delhi district, was waiting for them.

What followed was the most charged day of political protest in the capital in years. The Cockroach Janata Party's Chalo Sansad march was met with lathi charges near Parliament Street, t...