'Listen To Them, Youngsters Need A Lot Of Advise And Counselling': SC On Student Protest Cases

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stressed the need to pacify and counsel youngsters, emphasising the importance of listening to the causes they raise, while hearing a plea against the withdrawal of rioting cases arising from recent student protests.

The plea referred to the agitation organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and 'Sansad March' on July 20. Some protesters suffered pellet gun injuries when the police resorted to counter-measures after incidents of stone pelting during the march. Several protesters and security personnel were injured in the melee.

The matter came up before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana. Advocate Rizwan Ahmed appeared for the petitioner Maneesh Kumar Solanki, a former Indian Air Force officer.

During the hearing, the CJI observed that security forces must also exercise considerable restraint to ensure the situation does not spiral out of control. Stressing the importance of non-violence, he said youngsters should be pacified and that the most powerful source is listening, and one should listen to them.

The bench also stated that the manner of handling such situations should be left to law enforcement agencies.

Earlier, Ahmed described the organisers as the "so-called organisers" of an unregistered organisation and said, "They are going from channel to channel giving provocative statements and refusing to douse the fire." He also drew a parallel with organisers of religious congregations, who are held responsible first in case of any incident, including a fire in a pandal, irrespective of whether it resulted from negligence or an act of God.

The bench observed that it was already hearing another set of petitions and remained open to all suggestions, viewpoints and dissenting opinions. Ahmed requested that his petition be tagged and notice issued. The CJI observed that if some misguided elements indulge in stone pelting, youngsters still require pacification and counselling; they need a lot of advice and counselling.

"Any aggression coming from the other side in the name of the mighty state may also unnecessarily aggravate the situation and precipitate, leading to further violence. That needs to be avoided," the CJI added. Ahmed submitted that his client had proposed community service and argued that those involved in stone-pelting should not be allowed to go scot-free merely because the government is on the wrong foot. "Yesterday, stone pelting took place in Rajasthan. This is a very dangerous precedent," he argued.

The counsel also referred to the farmers' protest at the Delhi border and the Shaheen Bagh protest, saying, "Tomorrow Generation Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta will come. The people at the Singhu border will come to Parliament with tractors. The permission was not there, and 22 conditions were violated by the organisers."

He suggested that the protesters could not have marched towards Parliament, calling it the temple of democracy. "If 500 people had entered Parliament, who knows they were not carrying a country-made gun? Who knows they were not carrying some country-made bombs," he submitted, adding that "They were marching towards Parliament, not a national highway or a railway line."

The bench tagged the plea with other pending petitions related to the student protests.

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