Supreme Court Advises Government to Counsel NEET-UG Protesters, Not Suppress Them

The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday advised the government to adopt a conciliatory approach towards students and youths involved in protests over the NEET-UG paper leak, emphasising that reasoning and counselling would be more effective than aggressive action.

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, leading a Bench, said that the most powerful resource is reasoning and that the government should listen to the young protesters. “A better way is to counsel them, pacify them… The government knows how to deal with it,” he observed.

The court was hearing a petition filed by retired Air Force officer Manish Kumar Solanki, who claimed that the government was on the “backfoot” in dealing with the organisers of a demonstration linked to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) against the paper leak. The petition referred to a police crackdown and violence that occurred in the national capital on July 20.

Advocate Rizwan Ahmed, appearing for the petitioner, argued that 15 days had passed since the incident without any accountability for the organisers, noting that the CJP was not even a registered organisation. He alleged that the government was “bending backwards” to accommodate the protesters while violence continued, citing the death of a youth in Rajasthan.

“In society, everybody is important, including the farmers who had agitated and the protestors of Shaheen Bagh… If the government is on the backfoot, society and the institutions of law cannot be seen to be on the backfoot,” Mr. Ahmed submitted. He asked why the nation should tolerate a “dangerous precedent” and said stone-pelters should not be allowed to go scot-free.

Mr. Ahmed further argued that the protest organisers were continuing to fan the flames, moving from “channel to channel” for media attention. He suggested that the “young boys and girls” involved should be assigned seven days of community service.

However, the Chief Justice advised restraint and dialogue. “Youngsters are required to be pacified, even if some among them are involved in stone-pelting. They need a lot of advice and counselling. Any aggression will only unnecessarily aggravate the situation and lead to further violations. That needs to be avoided,” he said.

The Chief Justice stressed that law enforcement agencies should exercise restraint rather than use force while dealing with the younger generation. He noted that a peaceful agitation could turn violent, and it was the government’s responsibility to ensure the situation did not spiral out of control.

“In a democratic movement, what starts with a peaceful objective, and then some incident takes place, forces need to have a lot of restraint to ensure that the situation does not go out of hand,” he explained.

The court also observed that continuing incidents of violence involving youths must be handled carefully to prevent further confrontations. “Stray incidents, wherever they are happening, authorities need to step carefully to avoid any further violence,” he reiterated.

The Supreme Court tagged the petition with a batch of pleas related to the NEET-UG protests, scheduling them for a joint hearing on August 18.