The court directed that all the cases filed against students in all states and union territories will stand quashed. In a big relief for the student protesters who faced FIRs after the July 20 Cockroach Janata Party protests, the Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed all the FIRs filed against protesters between July 20 and 25, except those with criminal antecedents.
To this, Mehta replied that both sides have approached the matter constructively and positively. After the Supreme Court’s big move, the CJP called off its proposed September 5 march in Delhi. The court order came after Centre’s assurance that the cases filed against protesters regarding the July 20 CJP protest will be withdrawn and no new cases will be filed in the future regarding the same protest. The Court has however allowed the Delhi Police to pursue one FIR against 2,873 individuals who were present in the Jantar Mantar protests as they had serious criminal antecedents. CJP spokesperson Saurav Das told the top court that after Centre’s positive response and the top court’s decision, the group has decided to withdraw its call for the September 5 protest. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta told the court that the Centre (Delhi Police), and the States of Bihar, Assam, West Bengal and Maharashtra have filed applications seeking to quash the FIRs linked to student protests, and assuring that no future FIRs would be registered in respect of the protest related events from July 20 to July 25.
During the court argument, the bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said that issue can be sorted out if both the sides talk to each other with trust. “We are not enemies,” he added.
