When 23-year-old Santosh Rawal was shot at around 12:45 during Monday’s protests in front of Parliament, he thought the sting in his thigh was just a tear gas shell fragment.

Only when fellow demonstrators told him, “It looks like you’ve been shot,” did he realise a bullet had pierced his leg. He was immediately taken to the Civil Hospital opposite the Parliament complex in New Baneshwar.

Rawal, a bachelor student at Mahendra Ratna Campus, Tahachal, was one of many injured in this week’s Gen Z–led demonstrations against entrenched corruption in the country.

“We got shot on the frontline for the country. We were afraid and worried about what was happening outside,” said Rawal. “Yet the people calling themselves leaders or representatives of Gen Z online never came to see us, understand our situation, or address our urgent needs.”

As per Rawal, many victims are alone in the hospital with families far away. Next to his bed, a young student from Janakpur, who stays in a hostel in Kathmandu, had no one to look after him. Rawal’s friends helped him.

His disappointment is shared by other victims who spoke to the Post. They say that while health workers and volunteers have shown proper care and solidarity, leaders who claim to represent Gen Z have failed to visit, offer aid, or even acknowledge the sacrifices of those wounded.

Victims also say their injuries and voices are being sidelined in the broader political conversation.

Rawal’s account highlights both the chaos of the protests and his concerns about police protocols being skipped.

“I think police have a step-by-step protocol before firing live rounds. But until I got shot, they had only used sticks and tear gas. When I was hit, water cannons had not even been used.”

He says that the police skipped some steps and started firing right after the tear gas.

Inside Civil Hospital, Rawal described scenes of crisis and emergency as all the staff were occupied with patients overflowing.

With stretchers and beds full, many patients lay on the ground as health workers administered first aid and dressed wounds at the hospital entrance. Rawal had to wait four hours before getting a bed.

Many also described doctors struggling against both the overload of patients and the tear gas that drifted inside.

Still, he thanked those who came to support the victims, mentioning visits from Hami Nepal’s team, Sushila Karki, Rastriya Swatantra Party leader Toshima Karki, and social campaigner Aashika Tamang.

His strongest criticism was aimed at the self-proclaimed Gen Z leaders who, he said, urged people online to protest but have remained absent from the frontlines, while still presenting themselves as the movement’s leaders.

Though not a Gen Z, on Tuesday, 46-year-old Ramesh Pariyar of Chitwan joined protests after seeing graphic videos online of young people killed in clashes. “When I saw those brutal killings on TikTok, I couldn’t sleep the whole night,” he said. “I just kept thinking about going to the streets to raise my voice for those souls and for this country.”

The next day, while demonstrating near Parliament, he was struck by three live rounds, two in the legs and one in the arm. He is still undergoing treatment at Civil Hospital, with discharge expected on Saturday.

Even as he praised doctors and volunteers, Pariyar worried about how he and others would get home.

“My leg is injured. I don’t know if buses are running. Even if they are, I cannot sit upright for long and travel in a bus. I would need to keep my leg stretched in a sleeping position. There are many like me from Jhapa, Chitwan, and other places who are stranded and don’t know how to get back,” he said.

He appealed to the authorities and support groups for help.

“We victims should not be left to arrange everything ourselves. We took bullets for the country; our voices should be heard.”

Like Rawal, Pariyar said he supports an interim government under Karki. But he stressed that the wounded themselves must be part of shaping Nepal’s future.

Not all victims agree on who should lead.

Lokraj Upadhyay, 24, from Kanchanpur, says Karki’s elevation is a betrayal of the movement’s core demand, Gen Z leadership.

“We went there to raise our voices, but instead got shot. Now, what we demand is that there should be a new prime minister from generation Z. We will not accept any prime minister who is not Gen Z,” he said.

He dismissed the online polls and endorsements that propelled Karki as “lacking transparency” and said that Gen Z is being misled.

Upadhyay’s demands go further than leadership. He called for drafting a new constitution that includes the death penalty for corrupt officials, rapists, murderers, and criminals. He also insisted that any future government include at least 5,000 Gen Z representatives.

He claims that these views are shared by many injured in the protests. He even adds, “If there’s no candidate, I am ready to be prime minister. The only bottom line is that it should be someone from Gen Z.”

For 22-year-old digital marketer Aditya Rawal of Kadaghari, the trauma of being shot is matched by the uncertainty of recovery.

He sustained three injuries: bullets to his upper arm, leg, and a sensitive area below the waist. Two were rubber rounds, his family said, but one was metal.

After several days in intensive care, he is now in a general ward. His sister, Anju Rawal, has been by his side.

“Though his condition is stable, he still cannot eat properly. Only today did he start eating small amounts of fruit,” she said. “Mentally, my brother is in deep shock, and that will take longer to recover from.”

Anju praised the hospital staff and Gen Z volunteers providing food and clothes. But she noted that many victims remain isolated, without family nearby.

Anju, a Gen Z herself, added that some of the victims in the ward have been discussing how the decisions made by Gen Z leaders or representatives outside should also include the voices of those lying in hospital beds.

She also voiced a broader concern shared by other families: accountability.

“Nobody expected to be shot. Nobody went to the protests to be shot,” she said. “Someone should take accountability– these victims’ lives were put in danger, their futures disrupted. Who will answer for that damage?”

Among the injured interviewed today by the Post, the youngest was a 16-year-old, Kris Gurung from Culinary Arts college, shot in the thigh on Monday.

He recounted how the protest, which had been peaceful, spiralled out of control after police deployed water cannons despite the crowd remaining calm. This was when some in the crowd began throwing stones.

“One building in front of Parliament was also targeted because people believed tear gas was being fired from there,” he said. “But at the same time, many Gen Z protesters, including me, were trying to stop others from destroying our own country’s property.”

He suspects that infiltrators provoked the crowd to become more aggressive.

He said he accepts tear gas as part of crowd-control protocol, but not bullets.

“I can’t come to terms with how students like me were brutally shot just because of infiltrators from political parties,” he said.

Despite his injury, Gurung said he supports the interim leadership of Karki, describing her as ‘neutral’ and capable of managing the country until elections within six months. He added that in any new polls, he and others his age will resist parental pressure to vote for old parties.

Gurung, echoing the concerns of many victims, says that those who caused chaos and violence, the political parties’ pawns in Gen Z’s name, must be caught immediately. “They are driving our country towards ruin.”

While many discussions are going on online about the new interim government and Gen Z asking for the right leadership, those victims in the hospital feel unheard. Many remain stranded in Kathmandu, recovering in crowded wards, uncertain of how to return home or resume their lives.

Yet their words cut through the noise of online polls and partisan manoeuvring: recognition, support, and accountability remain in short supply.

“There are still many victims in hospitals,” said Rawal, who was discharged on Thursday evening. He appealed to all Gen Z leaders who encouraged people to protest online and those now claiming they are capable of leading: “Please step forward, visit the hospitals, listen to the victims’ needs, and provide the support they so urgently require.”

He further emphasised that Gen Z should not be divided among themselves at this critical time, warning that “opportunistic forces waiting to exploit our divisions could push our country into an even more dangerous situation.”