Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the authority of a Greater Noida executive magistrate for issuing a notice to a university student accused of encouraging others to join youth protests, saying its earlier order had barred coercive action against students.
The court said it had expressly directed that no student should face coercive measures in connection with the protests and that the magistrate could not act in breach of that direction, Live Law reported.
On Sept. 1, the Supreme Court had ordered that first information reports filed across India over student demonstrations held from July 20 to July 25 should not be investigated or pursued and should be treated as closed, except in cases involving people with criminal antecedents. The government had also assured the court that no new cases would be registered over the protests.
The latest dispute concerns Akshat Tripathi, a 20-year-old law student at Gautam Buddha University. He was issued a notice by the Greater Noida executive magistrate on Friday after police alleged that he was encouraging fellow students to participate in a planned demonstration, Live Law reported.
Police withdrew the notice the next day following an inquiry into the allegations, The Indian Express reported, citing police officials.
The notice, issued under preventive provisions of India’s Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, accused Tripathi of making statements that were allegedly anti-government and misleading and of provoking other students in a manner that could threaten public order. It also required him to furnish a personal bond of 500,000 rupees ($5,600) to ensure that he maintained peace, the newspaper reported.
Tripathi told The Indian Express that he had not attended the university for about three months and was working at the Allahabad High Court during July.
“How could I go to the university and provoke people?” he was quoted as saying.
A lawyer raised the matter before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Chief Justice Surya Kant asked the lawyer to formally present the notice through a petition, after which the court would seek an explanation from the relevant authority.
Protests
The protests began on June 6 with a demonstration at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar organised by the Cockroach Janta Party, which called for the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The movement grew significantly on July 20, when thousands of people joined the demonstrations. The gathering followed the removal of activist Sonam Wangchuk from a hunger strike to a hospital by police two days earlier.
A planned march towards Parliament was met by police action, with demonstrators facing batons, tear gas and pellet guns. Dozens of people were injured, while the demonstrations subsequently spread to several other parts of the country.
Pradhan resigned as education minister on July 25.
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