Supreme Court Refuses To Take Suo Motu Cognizance Of Women Sexually Assaulted At Jantar Mantar Protests

The Supreme Court today refused to take suo motu cognizance of women being physically assaulted during the recent Jantar Mantar protests that happened in July over the NEET Paper leak.

Senior Advocate Shobha Gupta mentioned the issue before a CJI Surya Kant led bench, "Please take suo motu cognizance of this issue only..some women were sexually assaulted..lathis were jabbed in their buttocks..".

Refusing to take up the issue separately, CJI Kant observed that the court has specifially asked the High Powered Committee formed by it to consider these issues at the earlier.

Court further suggested that Gupta could approach the nodal officers with her grievance.

Just last week the Supreme Court constituted a High-Powered Enquiry Committee(HPEC) headed by Justice (Retd.) R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of the Supreme Court of India for an independent and impartial investigation into the alleged acts of violence during the NEET Paper Leak protests.

The HPEC also consist of Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, Former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court; Mrs. Justice Shalinder Kaur, Former Judge of the Delhi High Court; Rishi Kumar Shukla, Former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Dr. L.R. Bishnoi, Retired Director General of Police, Meghalaya as Members.

CJI Surya Kant led bench had recommended that the HPEC address certain issues on a priority basis, foremost amongst which is the matter relating to the alleged incidents of targeted violence, harassment, and molestation of female protestors. Similarly, the HPEC may also assess the grievous harm and injury allegedly caused to protestors by police authorities and security personnel, and investigate aspects such as the chain of command resulting in such excesses, those responsible for such actions and whether there were any breaches of any of the existing laws, rules or norms in exercising such force. Additionally, the HPEC may also examine issues pertaining to the grant of interim compensation to those injured on either side, whether police personnel or protestors.

The top court has also clarified that the enquiry undertaken by the HPEC shall not be a one-time exercise rather, the Committee shall undertake a continuous and periodic assessment of the issues enumerated hereinabove, and shall submit its interim findings periodically so as to enable this Court to take appropriate measures and issue such directions as may be warranted.

Notably, the court has been hearing the issues concerned NEET protests for few weeks now and had recently directed that the State government that they are at liberty to withdraw FIRs registered against the protestors involved in the recent protests that happened in various parts of the country over the NEET paper leak. As a CJI Surya Kant led bench clarified that those FIRs registered against persons who are already accused of grave and heinous offences may not be withdrawn, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the bench that 2700 such FIRs shall not be withdrawn.