The Jantar Mantar five stay put: petitioners wanted a rebuild, the Chief Justice put the same panel under the Court’s own eye.

Petitioners on Tuesday, 25 August 2026, asked the Supreme Court to reconstitute the high-powered enquiry committee probing alleged excessive force during the 20 July 2026 National Eligibility cum Entrance Test–Undergraduate protest march at Jantar Mantar. A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant did not replace the panel. The Chief Justice said the committee works under direct Supreme Court supervision, the main case remains pending, and the application would be listed. Listing an application is a cause-list step. It is not a finding that the five members have failed, and it is not a finding that officials used excessive force.

The high-powered enquiry committee is chaired by former judge R. Subhash Reddy. The other members, as locked on this file, are Ravi Shankar Jha, Justice Shalinder Kaur, Rishi Kumar Shukla and L.R. Bishnoi. Five is the membership count. This desk will not invent a sixth name, a leaked interim finding, or a police-officer charge-sheet the Tuesday order does not write. The court did not accept allegations against officials as proved on Tuesday.

Direct supervision is the Chief Justice’s phrase for how the existing five work. Petitioners wanted reconstitution. The bench kept the same five and kept the main case open. Those are two different things. A pending main case means the July protest file is not closed. An application that would be listed means the reconstitution prayer is not decided on Tuesday. This page will not collapse a listing promise into a dismissed petition or into a granted rebuild.

Jantar Mantar and the 20 July 2026 march are the predicate geography and date. Alleged excessive force is the allegation the committee is probing. A committee under the Court’s eye is not a verdict. New Delhi holds the Supreme Court. Form B and any poll date are not notified on this file.

A high-powered enquiry committee under direct court supervision is still an enquiry body. It is not a criminal court. Petitioners remain free to press reconstitution when the application is listed. The Tuesday record is that the five were not replaced and that allegations against officials were not accepted as proved. Those two refusals are the operative lines. They are not a clean chit written as a final judgment, and they are not a finding of excessive force.

This desk will not invent a crowd figure for 20 July, a named injured list, or a finding that any officer is guilty. Until the application is listed and the bench speaks again, the public ledger is a Tuesday refusal to rebuild the panel on the spot, a Chief Justice line that the five work under direct Supreme Court supervision, a pending main case, a listing of the reconstitution application, a chair in former judge R. Subhash Reddy, and four colleagues — Ravi Shankar Jha, Justice Shalinder Kaur, Rishi Kumar Shukla and L.R. Bishnoi. Allegations against officials remain unproved. The five remain the five.