Youth protest leaders call on India govt to withdraw FIRs ‘immediately’

India’s youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Monday urged the BJP-led central and state governments to “honour their previous assurances” and drop the cases against student protesters, after the Supreme Court (SC) cleared “confusions over the release process”.

Earlier on Monday, the apex court explained the caveat that it had added to its 28 July order, wherein it had directed that those arrested during the demonstrations be released immediately, except those with “criminal antecedents”. The court clarified this on Monday, saying “criminal antecedents” would only pertain to “grave and heinous” offences.

The students were arrested during their protests against recruitment exam paper leaks, the first such incident during BJP's 12-year stint in power that led to the education minister's resignation.

Apart from the minister's resignation, the protest leaders also demanded compensation for the leaks, and release of all the detained demonstrators.

Following the court's clarification over release, CJP Spokesperson Das sad that the SC had “removed confusions”, and urged the Centre and state governments to follow through on its earlier “assurances.”

“Now that the Supreme Court has removed confusions, we expect the Government of India and all BJP/NDA-ruled states to immediately honour the assurances given on 25 July to the young of this country,” Das said.

In a post on social media platform X, Das said that the CJP had “stood by” the student protesters since the beginning of the demonstrations, and had provided legal assistance, medical support, and other forms of help to them.

“That commitment remains unchanged. We thank all lawyers across the country who continue to help the protesters,” Das said. He added that CJP continues to “closely monitor developments across states and remain in constant dialogue with senior representatives of the union government.” Das said the outfit expected the assurances to be implemented “in both letter and spirit.”

“The youth of this country honoured their word. It is now time for the Government to honour its own immediately,” he said.

While hearing a batch of petitions alleging police excesses during the recent student protests, the SC clarified two aspects of its 28 July order. “The NCT of Delhi or any other State shall be at liberty to close or withdraw any such criminal case, in accordance with law. 'Criminal antecedents' used in paragraph 8(5) would mean grave and heinous offences,” a bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said, according to ANI news agency.

The SC bench said it was considering either a single-member SIT or a judge-led panel to probe alleged police excesses.

Chief Justice Surya Kant said the mechanism would examine allegations against both the authorities and the protesters. The court also suggested the authorities to devise a mechanism for the closure of cases or criminal proceedings against those detained. The SC bench suggested gathering information on all cases across states and then segregating them on the basis of “criminal antecedents.”

“One mechanism... gather information on FIRs from all States and in Delhi. Then segregation, without antecedents and hardened criminals. After this categorisation, then take up some recourse,” the court stated.