The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking an investigation into the FIRs registered against student protesters who had participated in the July 20 protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). The plea came as a review petition to the court’s September 1 order cancelling all FIRs filed against protesters between July 20 and 25, except those with criminal antecedents.
The protest turned violent after police resorted to the use of force to control the crowd resulting in clashes between the police and protesters. Please appreciate, these are young students. We have to see their parents, their future. We don’t want them to get entangled in legal cases and have to come to court,” the CJI observed.
On July 20, around 30,000 people took to the streets and attempted to march towards Parliament, demanding educational reforms and the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The Chief Justice explained that the Court had exercised its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to cancel FIRs. “You say we should not have invoked Article 142 and quashed FIRs.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana was hearing a PIL filed by L Ramanathan, who argued that there cannot be any judicial interference in police functions, as they are “independent and sovereign”. The lawyer argued that it was important to send a message and remarked that people often come to court as if it were their “private property”.
