The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a plea seeking directions to give the Delhi Police a “free hand” to deal with protesters, observing that the future of young students participating in demonstrations and the concerns of their parents must also be considered, according to a LiveLaw report.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana emphasized that young protesters should not be unnecessarily entangled in prolonged legal proceedings.
“These are young students and protesters before us. We have to see their parents, we have to see they have a long life. They should not be entangled with court hearings,” CJI Kant said, as quoted by LiveLaw.
The bench was hearing a public interest litigation () filed by L Ramanathan, who argued that the police should be allowed to discharge their functions independently without judicial interference, as they are “independent and sovereign”.
The petition sought an investigation into the registered against student protesters following demonstrations at Jantar Mantar in July.
However, the bench observed that the relief sought effectively amounted to a review of its earlier decision to quash the cases.
“There’s no guarantee we keep passing 100% correct orders. You say we should not have invoked Article 142 and quashed FIRs… please appreciate, these are young students… we have to see their parents, their future… we don’t want them to have to come to court,” the said, according to the report.
The petition had been filed before thepassed its 1 September order quashing the FIRs, as per the report.
The development comes amid fresh tensions over planned demonstrations on 10 October at Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The Delhi Police have denied permission for the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) proposed protest and declared any gathering illegal, according to a Times of India report.
The CJP, opposition groups and student organizations are demanding the resignation of CEC over allegations of “vote theft” and irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The CJP had earlier backed the INDIA bloc MPs’ protest march towards the Election Commission’s office on 6 October.
The Opposition’s attack on Kumar has gained momentum following an Indian Express report that Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had, on at least 14 occasions over the past 10 months, objected to decisions and orders concerning the SIR process, alleging they were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
