Court's curb on police action reinforces democratic rights and accountability.
Finally, the Supreme Court has made a forceful though delayed intervention in the cases relating to the student protest over the leakage of question papers in the NEET examination when it stopped governments from going ahead with their vindictive action against the protesters and suggested that an independent investigation into allegations of police excesses on students is warranted instead. Now, a close follow-up by the court on their compliance with its own directions and suggestions would go a long way in inspiring confidence.
One of the curses of the system of administration of criminal justice in India is that the process can easily be made the punishment if the government so chooses. Detention, arrest and the long-drawn legal process together make a nightmarish experience for people in the normal course; it will be worse if the government gets involved in them. The registration of cases against peaceful protesters at Jantar Mantar in Delhi as well as in the other states was a deterrence ploy of the government. The apex court’s order directing the release of all the students with no criminal antecedents and its ban on the registering of new FIRs on such people come as a big relief for the protesters. It must be emphasised that the term “criminal antecedents” is confusing as there is many a political activist with cases registered against them for participating in public agitations. The court must ensure that the police go with the spirit of its order.
Even the government would agree that the youth who hit the streets seeking accountability on the part of the government after the cancellation of the Neet examination attended by 22 lakh people and the mess the CBSE made of the valuation of its Class 12 answer sheets had a bona fide case. The Prime Minister’s announcements about the formation of an experts committee on NTA reforms and the tightening of the anti-paper leak law in response to the students’ protests point to the lacunae the government had left unaddressed. It is hence unacceptable that those who raised genuine concerns about the future of the young generation are treated inhumanely by the police, those in police uniform and those without uniform.
Allegations of the use of electric batons, lathis fitted with nails and inappropriate behaviour with students, including girls, have already surfaced. It is hence very much in order that the Supreme Court forms a special investigation team to get to the bottom of the allegations. The police brutality must not go undocumented; we are an independent country functioning on the rule of law.
The government wanted its actions to be a deterrent for those who democratically and peacefully protest against its policies; the SC’s moves, on the other hand, come as offering a deterrent to the government and its agencies if they plan to unleash the might of the state on its people. And that is the need of the hour. Moreover, it is the obvious choice for the state in a democratic republic.
