The Madras High Court on Tuesday disposed of a petition filed by a group of students of IIT Madras for seeking direction to set up a ‘peacekeeping committee’ at the institute and action against police officials after violent incidents broke out over a ‘beef fest’ held on campus in 2017. A bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu observed that while the students have the right to protest but such rights must be used in a peaceful manner in line with law.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition was filed by Ditty Mathew, a former student and research scholar, and other students of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.
It was also alleged by the petitioners that the police did not conduct proper inquiry into the case. On contrary to this, the police in its report said that protesting students had also violated the law during the incident and had “squatted on roads and obstructed traffic”.
Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying, “They (students) have rights, but there is a way to exercise rights. It is true that students must be handled delicately, but at the same time, students can not be permitted to go berserk. It says here they were squatting on roads, obstructing traffic, being part of unlawful assembly.”
The court refused to comment on the merits of the case as it observed that six FIRs were filed after a probe into the violent incident and the cases were now pending for hearing before the trial court.
“You are asking for a Committee and action against some people. But what about you? Should action not be taken against the students who squatted on the roads, obstructing traffic, and breaking laws? The police report says the students were part of an unlawful assembly. Why should action not be taken against them (the protesting students)? They must have all passed out (graduated) by now,” the bench was quoted as saying by Bar and Bench.
It was also alleged that the police did not conduct proper inquiry into the complaint lodged in connection with the attack on R Sooraj, and were trying to project the victims as accused, which is disheartening, illegal and against the principles of natural justice.
In 2017, a beef controversy took an ugly turn as a PhD scholar of IIT Madras was beaten up allegedly by some students protesting against the ‘beef fest’ held in the campus.
The IIT authorities had ordered an inquiry and assured appropriate action to be taken based on its outcome.
R Sooraj, who was associated with the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, was allegedly assaulted by some students who claimed to be Sangh Parivar supporters, according to the victim’s associates.
The attack came two days after some students had held a ‘beef fest’ in the campus to protest the Centre’s ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter at animal markets.
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