NEW DELHI, SEP 9 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned how a Greater Noida executive magistrate could issue a notice to a student who participated in the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, despite the court’s earlier order barring coercive action against students over the 36-day stir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court’s rap came after a Gautam Buddha University student, Akshat Tripathi, in Greater Noida was issued a notice to furnish a Rs 5 lakh personal bond for joining the CJP protest in Delhi. Police, which later revoked the notice, alleged he had encouraged other students to join the protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, who was heading a three-judge bench, said the top court had already passed a clear order protecting students from penal action. “How could a Magistrate dare to issue notice? We made clear no coercive action against any student. No Magistrate could violate that order,” LiveLaw quoted the CJI as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The issue was raised through oral mentioning by Senior Advocate Bishwajit Bhattacharyya, who told the bench that an Executive Magistrate in Greater Noida had issued a notice to a second-year student of Gautam Buddha University, Akshat Tripathi, directing him to show cause why he should not furnish a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh to preserve peace. According to LiveLaw, the notice was later withdrawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CJI Kant said the court was “surprised” that such a notice had been issued despite its earlier directions. “There is no question of taking action against our youth. We have passed a clear order,” PTI quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, directed the lawyer to place the facts and the notice on record, saying it would seek an explanation from the authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WHAT DID THE NOTICE SAY?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to LiveLaw, the notice was issued by the Court of the Executive Magistrate III, Greater Noida, on September 4 based on a police report. The police alleged that the student, Akshat Tripathi, was “spreading and instigating anti-government misleading talks” among university students and encouraging them to join the CJP-led protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The police report claimed his activities had created tension and could lead to fighting or quarrelling, resulting in a breach of peace and public order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Executive Magistrate said there were sufficient grounds to initiate proceedings and directed Tripathi to show cause as to why he should not be required to execute a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh along with two sureties of Rs 5 lakh each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tripathi has denied the allegations, saying he had participated in the protest peacefully and was not attending university classes at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LAWYER CALLS MOVE ‘EXPERIMENT ON STUDENTS’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the hearing, Bhattacharyya described the action as an “experiment with students of India” and said authorities in Noida and Uttar Pradesh could not create a “fear psychosis” among students, LiveLaw reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also argued that withdrawing the notice did not erase the violation of the Supreme Court’s order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Contempt, once committed, cannot be purged by simply withdrawing the notice,” the lawyer submitted, according to LiveLaw, calling it contempt of court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked whether any cause of action survived if the notice had already been withdrawn. The lawyer maintained that the contempt remained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Supreme Court has now indicated that it will examine the matter and seek an explanation from the Greater Noida Authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The development came after the Supreme Court earlier cancelled FIRs related to the CJP-led student protests and directed that no coercive or penal action be taken against students in connection with the demonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-PTI<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEW DELHI, SEP 9 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned how a Greater Noida executive magistrate could issue a notice to a student who participated in the Cockroach Janta<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[348],"tags":[28796,63,18501],"class_list":["post-155652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news","tag-cji-surya-kant","tag-new-delhi","tag-supreem-court"],"yoast_head":"\n