"How Dare A Magistrate Do That?" Top Court's Rap Over Notice To Student

The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed anger over a notice issued by the Greater Noida Executive Magistrate to a student over participation in the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protests in July.

The Court asked how the Executive Magistrate could issue the notice when the Supreme Court had quashed all FIRs against students over the CJP protests and barred any future coercive action against any student.

"How could the magistrate issue the notice? Our order was clear that no coercive action can be taken against any student across the country. How dare a magistrate do that?" an angry court asked.

Earlier on September 1, the Supreme Court had invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to quash all cases against students arising from the CJP protests. The court ordered that FIRs registered between July 20 and 25 across states and Union territories in connection with the protests would not be pursued or investigated and would be treated as closed for all purposes.

The court had also directed that no fresh action should be taken against any student in relation to the protests.

The case of the Greater Noida student was brought to the court's notice by senior advocate Bishwajit Bhattacharyya. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said that the court would seek an explanation from the Gautam Buddh Nagar district and executive magistrates regarding the notice issued to the student on September 4.

The notice issued to Akshat Tripathi, a second-year student of Gautam Buddh University, on September 4 was withdrawn the next day, the court was informed. It accused Tripathi of spreading anti-government information and encouraging students to join the CJP protest at Jantar Mantar.

Describing the incident as an "experiment with students of India", advocate Bhattacharya urged the court to intervene to prevent such incidents from recurring.

The Chief Justice agreed with Bhattacharya and expressed surprise over the magistrate's action.

"We are surprised how an executive magistrate or a district magistrate can issue a notice when our September 1 order was clear that no action can be taken against our youth for participating in the protest," remarked the CJI.