Supreme Court to Quash FIRs Against Innocent Student Protesters The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday ruled that it would quash the first information reports (FIRs) registered against “innocent” student protesters who participated in nationwide demonstrations demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as education minister over the NEET paper leak controversy. The court emphasized that the decision was aimed at protecting the rights of students who engaged in peaceful protests, ensuring they were not unfairly targeted for their activism. However, the government clarified that FIRs against 2,873 individuals with prior criminal records—predating the protests—would remain intact. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, presiding over the bench alongside Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, assured the government that cases involving individuals with “serious and grave offences” before the protests would not be dismissed. He highlighted the importance of distinguishing between students who peacefully protested and hardened criminals, stressing that the latter’s actions could not be conflated with the former’s. Kant invoked Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to free speech and expression, to underscore that students had “legitimate expectations” from the legal system. The court’s ruling followed a legal debate between the solicitor-general, Tushar Mehta, and advocate Rizwan Ahmed, who represented a petitioner opposing the quashing of FIRs. Mehta argued that while the government supported the quashing of cases against students, there were “criminal elements” who had infiltrated the protests to incite violence and create law and order issues.#supreme_court_of_india #surya_kant #joymalya_bagchi #dharmendra_pradhan #v_mohana
