The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on Tuesday a Delhi Police plea seeking to quash 13 FIRs registered against students who participated in protests over the NEET paper leak and permission to register a fresh case against 2,873 people allegedly present at the demonstrations.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana agreed to list the matter after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought an urgent hearing.
As the bench was about to rise after the day's proceedings, Mehta said the Centre wanted to move an interlocutory application seeking the quashing of FIRs registered in connection with the protests.
“We are invoking Article 142 (of the Constitution),” he said.
The Delhi Police, in its application, said that following a decision taken by the Centre on July 25, it no longer wished to pursue the 13 FIRs registered in connection with the protests.
However, the police sought the court's permission to register a fresh FIR against 2,873 individuals who were allegedly present at the protest site and were prima facie found to have serious criminal antecedents in the National Crime Records Bureau database.
The proposed investigation would seek to determine whether any of them were involved in offences involving bodily harm or destruction of property during the protests.
“The Delhi Police seeks leave to file a fresh FIR only for these 2,873 individuals,” the application said, adding that the registration and investigation would conform to the Supreme Court's clarification on the expression “criminal antecedents”.
The police also clarified that no fresh FIR would be registered for incidents already covered by the application.
Invoking the Supreme Court's extraordinary powers under Article 142, the Delhi Police sought quashing of the existing FIRs and permission to register the fresh case. It also requested that any order allowing the plea be confined to the “peculiar facts” of the case and not treated as a precedent.
The matter comes ahead of a proposed protest march in Delhi by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has accused the Centre of failing to honour commitments made on July 25 that led to the withdrawal of its 36-day agitation over alleged examination irregularities.
The proposed march on Teachers' Day is expected to be led by families of students who allegedly died by suicide following the cancellation of the NEET examination and subsequent re-test, as well as those who alleged police excesses during the July protests.
The Supreme Court had earlier constituted a high-powered committee headed by former judge Justice R Subhash Reddy to examine issues arising from the nationwide protests, including allegations of police excesses against students.
On August 3, the court clarified that “criminal antecedents”, as referred to in its earlier order concerning the release of student protesters, meant involvement in grave and heinous offences. It had said states could close or withdraw FIRs against other students in accordance with law.
The clarification followed the Centre's submission that it was willing to drop proceedings against students who participated in the NEET paper leak protests, including the July 20 Parliament march, provided they did not have criminal antecedents.
The July 20 march towards Parliament had witnessed clashes between protesters and security personnel, with police using lathis and tear gas to disperse the crowd.
The student-led agitation, which began at Jantar Mantar on June 20 and spread to several cities, had demanded accountability over alleged NEET examination irregularities and the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The protest was called off on July 25 after Pradhan resigned and the government accepted the CJP's other demands.
(With input from PTI)