SC questions Greater Noida magistrate’s notice to student over protests

The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned how the Greater Noida executive magistrate could “dare” to issue a notice to a student last week for allegedly campaigning for participation in youth protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).

“We made it clear that no coercive action should be taken against any student,” a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant said, according to Live Law. “No magistrate could violate that order.”

On September 1, the Supreme Court ordered that all first information reports (FIRs) registered across the country in connection with student protests held between July 20 and July 25 should not be pursued or investigated and must be treated as closed, except those involving people with criminal antecedents. The government had told the court that no fresh FIRs would be registered in connection with the protests.

On Friday, a 20-year-old law student at Gautam Buddha University, Akshat Tripathi, was served a notice by the executive magistrate after a police report alleged that he was instigating other students to participate in a proposed protest, Live Law reported.

The notice was withdrawn the following day after the allegations were investigated, The Indian Express quoted unidentified police officers as saying. It had been issued under preventive legal provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.

The notice alleged that Tripathi was “spreading anti-government, misleading statements among other university students and provoking them”, which could “disrupt public peace”. It also sought a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh from the student to ensure that he would preserve peace, the newspaper reported.

Tripathi told The Indian Express that he had not been attending the university for the past three months.

“I was working at the Allahabad High Court in July,” he was quoted as saying. “How could I go to the university and provoke people?”

A lawyer verbally mentioned the matter before the bench on Wednesday.

The Chief Justice directed the lawyer to formally place the notice before the court through a petition and said an explanation would then be sought from the authority concerned.

The protests began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party held a demonstration at Jantar Mantar demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, who was the Union Education Minister at the time.

On July 20, thousands joined the protest. This came two days after police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital.

The protesters’ march to Parliament was met with a police crackdown. Dozens were injured as police used lathis and fired tear gas shells and pellet guns at the demonstrators. The police action intensified the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country.

Pradhan resigned as Education Minister on July 25.