Gujarat police asked to withdraw all FIRs against NEET paper leak protesters, there may be only one

Seven people gathered near Daksheshwar Mahadev temple on July 21, and shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and burnt Pradhan’s effigy. The police said the accused had no permission for such a demonstration.

An offence under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 223 (disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant), 125 (rash or negligent act that endangers human life or personal safety), 285 (causing danger, obstruction, or injury to the public on a roadway), 287 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter), 189 (2) (knowingly being a member of an unlawful assembly), and 190 (joint liability for unlawful assemblies) were slapped against them.

SC order

The Jantar Mantar agitation, the high point of which was the Chalo Sansad March on July 20, ultimately brought the Centre to the negotiating table with the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and led to the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on July 25.

The letter addressed to DGP GS Malik stated that the State has taken cognizance of the July 28 order of the Supreme Court in Shailendra Mani Tripathi vs Government of Delhi, which had ordered the systematic withdrawal of such cases.

On August 3, the Supreme Court cleared the way for various states to withdraw such cases. A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Monday said the respective state governments can close or withdraw such cases. This relief, however, would not extend to those named in “grave and heinous” criminal cases in the past, the bench underlined. The bench — comprising CJI and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana — was hearing a batch of pleas alleging police excesses during the July 20 Sansad Chalo march to Parliament.

The clarification comes after a three-judge bench led by the CJI ruled on July 28, “Delhi and other states may proceed with the investigation of the FIRs registered; however, no coercive measures shall be taken against the protesting students. Such protection, nonetheless, shall not be extended to the persons with criminal antecedents.”

The court’s remarks on Monday were in response to the concerns raised by some petitioners that the July 28 order may block the withdrawal of cases against protesters who do not have a criminal record.

No FIR over major protests in state

While Gujarat DGP G S Malik and DGP Law and Order N Rajkumar Pandia remained unavailable for comment on Monday, The Indian Express spoke to police officials in all major cities where such protests took place in July this year and learnt that no FIR had been filed against any of the protestors in Gujarat.

Sector-1 Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) Niraj Kumar Badgujar of Ahmedabad City Police told The Indian Express that no FIRs were filed in connection with any of the four major protests that took place in the city, three on July 20 and one more on July 22.

The largest protest in Ahmedabad city was on July 20, starting out from MJ Library and moving in a wide arc of about a square kilometre, making the police personnel follow them through the lanes and bylanes of the area opposite Ellisbridge and Nehru bridge. While the police detained the first lot of activists around 6 pm – about half an hour after the protest in support of Sonam Wangchuck and against Pradhan began – the protestors moved around for about 3 hours before most of them were detained and subsequently released by the police.

In Saurashtra, DCP (Crime) Jagdish Bangarwa of Rajkot City Police also confirmed that no FIRs had been filed in either of the two protests in the city on July 20 and 21.

Gandhinagar SP Ravi Teja Vasamsetty also confirmed that two protests had taken place in the state capital but the protesters had merely been detained and no FIRs had been filed in either of them.

Senior officials from Vadodara city police said that no FIRs had been lodged against protesters. A few protesters were detained to enforce law and order and were released on the same day, they said.

In Surat city, around 70 students were detained by Vesu police of Surat city from nearby Mahavir College, during their protest in support of the Jantar Mantar agitation on July 20.

The students were holding banners and placards and were shouting slogans demanding resignation of Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradahan. The detained students were brought to the police station and later freed.

Talking to The Indian Express, Vesu Police inspector J A Rathwa said, “We have not registered any police complaint against the protesting students at Mahavir College, Vesu. We have only detained them and later freed them after taking their names and addresses and primary details.”