The Supreme Court on Monday said the right to peaceful protest is "absolutely guaranteed" as it agreed to hear on Tuesday a batch of petitions alleging police excesses against students protesting the NEET paper leak and other examination irregularities across the country.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana also agreed to hear a separate plea filed by family members of police personnel who were allegedly attacked during the protests along with the other pending petitions.
"The Right to peaceful protest is absolutely guaranteed. That cannot be denied. Merely because there is agitation cannot justify police excesses," the CJI said.
CJI Kant also clarified that the life of every individual, including police personnel, is equally important.
The Court further directed that all the connected petitions be listed together on July 28 for hearing.
Justice Bagchi stressed that injuries to individuals, whether students or policemen, are of equal concern and questioned why police personnel were not adequately equipped, such as with helmets, to manage such situations.
The petitions, including one filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi, sought comprehensive guidelines to regulate police conduct during public protests. The plea sought a ban on the deployment of plainclothes personnel for crowd control, stricter norms for imposing prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which replaced Section 144 of the CrPC, and an independent investigation into the police action in Delhi on July 20.
Tripathi also sought establishing strict constitutional thresholds for the invocation of Section 152 of the BNS (Bharariya Nyaya Sanhita) 2023, clarifying that no person shall be prosecuted under this section for political dissent, academic critique, peaceful protest, or criticism of the government unless there is a direct, proximate, and imminent incitement to armed rebellion or secessionist violence.
The petitioners have sought appropriate directions and orders from the top court for independent probe into the police action.
Out of the two pleas, one sought a high-powered Judicial Commission or a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a retired Judge of this Court in the case.
"The SC should direct for an independent, high-powered Judicial Commission or a SIT headed by a retired Judge of this court to investigate the physical excesses, gender-based violence, kinectic brutalities, and arbitrary detentions committed by the Delhi Police and other security personnel during the CJP Parliament March on July 20, 2026, and to direct the prosecution and suspension of all delinquent officers identified," the plea said.
The NEET paper leak controversy has led to widespread and severe protests in Jantar Mantar and many other places -- including major cities like, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahemdabad, Patna and Guwahati -- across the country demanding the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, over the alleged NEET exam paper leak case. The protesters also demand scrapping the exam and fixing accountability on NTA.
During the protest march held on Monday July 20 at Jantar Mantar, the police had lathi charged CJP (Cockroach Janata Party) protesters and students and fired tear gas shells.
It is also to be noted that the Supreme Court is already hearing several petitions on alleged irregularities in NEET-UG and the functioning of NTA.
"There should be a direction for immediate, time-bound, and literal implementation of the police reform directives laid down in Prakash Singh versus Union of India (2006), specifically the establishment of fully functional, independent, and structurally empowered State and District Police Complaints Authorities (PCAs) whose recommendations for disciplinary and criminal action against delinquent officers shall be binding," the plea added.
Tripathi also sought that the Cente should introduce mandatory, structured, and periodical training programs for all police all personnel on human rights, gender-sensitive crowd policing, conflict de-escalation, and non-lethal crowd control methods, in line with the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force.
The plea also sought direction to the respondent No. 3, Delhi police (Commissioner of Police, Delhi) to immediately register a First Information Report (FIR) under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023— including sections corresponding to sexual harassment, assault, and use of criminal force with intent to outrage the modesty of a woman -- against the delinquent police personnel, and to identify, suspend, and initiate criminal prosecution against the officers who subjected female protesters to physical and sexual abuse during the protest on July 20, 2026.