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Synopsis

The Bombay High Court has recently allowed Mahesh Raut, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad violence, to take admission to the 3-year law course at Siddharth Law College.

“Imprisonment does not restrict an individual’s right to pursue further education. Denying the opportunity to take admission in the College despite a seat being allotted by following the due process as prescribed, is a violation of the fundamental right of the Petitioner. In these circumstances, we are inclined to allow the Petitioner to take admission in the LL.B. course in the Siddharth Law College for the AY 2024-25 for the batch of 2024-2027,” the order reads.

A division bench of the high court comprising Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Neela Gokhale was hearing a petition filed by Mahesh Raut, who is accused of alleged links with CPI Maoists.

Raut was earlier denied bail by the Pune Sessions Court and the Special NIA Court in Mumbai. He was later granted bail by the high court; however, the bail was stayed by the Supreme Court.

Senior Advocate Mihir Desai, appearing for Raut, submitted that Raut appeared for the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (CET) law examination pursuant to permission granted to him by the Special Court.

Raut participated in the CAP round process through his sister, and his application was provisionally accepted. He was provisionally allotted a seat in Siddharth Law College, and his sister paid the required fee to freeze the seat allotted.

He added that he is required to remain physically present for the verification of his documents to be admitted to the college. Since Raut is detained in Taloja Central Prison, he cannot remain physically present for the same.

Advocate Rui Rodrigues, appearing for the University of Mumbai, and Advocate Muzzafar Patel, appearing for Siddharth Law College, opposed the petition while arguing that LL.B. is a professional course and the university rules require a candidate to have compulsory minimum attendance of 75% during every academic year.

They emphasized that being in jail, Raut would undoubtedly be unable to fulfil the requisite attendance requirement. They thus urged the court to dismiss the petition.

The bench however allowed the petition while noting that, “..we leave it to the College to consider permitting the authorized representative/next of kin of the Petitioner to physically attend the College and verify the documents or in the alternative, to take the signature of the Petitioner on the documents from the Taloja Central Prison,” the order reads.

Case title: Mahesh Sitaram Raut vs State of Maharashtra