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Journalism of Courage
‘You stand between us, police’: Supreme Court to hear pleas on NEET protest crackdown
The petitioners have claimed the use of excessive force by the police during protests against alleged NEET paper leaks.
While protesters have alleged that the police used batons and tear gas against them, officers have cited attempts to breach security arrangements and attacks on personnel as the reason for the crackdown. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)
The Supreme Court will hear two petitions on Monday claiming police excesses against students protesting at Jantar Mantar and other places in the country since Monday against the alleged NEET question paper leaks.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, while presiding over a three-judge bench, told Senior Advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Shyam Divan, “Let it be listed, we will entertain”.
Sankaranarayanan told the bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, that there are two petitions dealing with the violence that took place across the country. “There is urgency because this is happening on a daily basis.”
The senior counsel said the “police are using excessive force against children”. “It is just going on unabated. Some controls are necessary. The court stands between us and the police.”
Sankaranarayanan said he was waiting for the court’s Registry to grant diary numbers before he could mention the same for an urgent hearing.
“We didn’t want to mention until we got the diary numbers. We have diary numbers and properly constituted petitions. The states are parties,” he submitted.
While protesters have alleged that the police used batons and tear gas against them, officers have cited attempts to breach security arrangements and attacks on personnel as the reason for the crackdown. The police have filed multiple FIRs and intensified security measures.
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Earlier in the day, CJI Kant refuted reports that he had failed to list a petition seeking the Supreme Court’s intervention in the alleged police excesses against protesting students in Delhi for a hearing. The CJI also clarified that no petition had been filed and that the court had received only a lawyer’s representation.
“In the last two days, a completely false statement was made that a matter has been filed. And the media is absolutely free from all responsibility, falsely reporting that the Chief Justice refused to list the matter,” the CJI said as Senior Advocate Shoeb Alam sought listing of an unrelated matter.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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