Students at Hyderabad’s National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) have urged the university to reconsider inviting Chief Justice Surya Kant as the chief guest for its convocation, citing his response to a petition concerning police action against protesters in Delhi, Bar and Bench reported.
A group of 70 students from the law school’s outgoing batch submitted a representation to university authorities on July 23, The Indian Express reported. Within the following two days, around 380 students from batches expected to graduate over the next five years also backed the request.
NALSAR has not yet formally announced its convocation chief guest. Kant, however, has delivered the university’s convocation address for several years.
The students’ objection centres on comments Kant made when a bench led by him declined to take up urgently a petition challenging police action against protesters at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on July 20, Bar and Bench reported.
The petition was listed for an urgent hearing on July 22. Kant reportedly told the petitioners: “Don’t waste our time and don’t waste your time.”
After the petitioners’ lawyer offered to show video evidence of alleged police excesses, Kant said the bench was “not interested” in viewing the material. “We don’t have time to watch,” he said.
In their representation, the students cited the remarks and said they were uncomfortable receiving their degrees from a dignitary whose recent public conduct, they argued, appeared dismissive of serious allegations of police brutality against protesters.
They also said the convocation should embody NALSAR’s institutional principles, including “a commitment to constitutional rights, access to justice, and reasoned engagement with grievances”, Bar and Bench reported.
The police action took place during demonstrations over alleged mismanagement of several competitive examinations. The protests later intensified and culminated in the resignation of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dharmendra Pradhan as Union education minister, according to the report.
The protests were led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign.
The campaign was formed following reports about remarks by Kant comparing some unemployed young people to “cockroaches”. Kant subsequently said he had been misquoted by parts of the media and rejected the claim that he had criticised young people generally.
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