The Supreme Court today ordered the closure of FIRs registered across the country over student protests related to the NEET paper leak issue held from 20th to 25th of July. The court directed that the cases should not be pursued or investigated and must be treated as closed for all purposes. The top court also quashed the FIRs related to student protests mentioned in applications filed by the Centre, Delhi Police, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Assam. It extended the order across the country. The apex court said, the order was passed keeping in mind the future of students who bona fide came to the protests. The top court also ordered that no state and Union Territory should register any fresh FIR in relation to protest incidents between the 20th to 25th of July.
The Apex Court has however allowed the Delhi Police to pursue one FIR against 2,873 individuals who were present in the Jantar Mantar protests as they had serious criminal antecedents.
The bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana passed the directions invoking the Supreme Court’s special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India. The bench clarified that the order has been passed in view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, and shall not be treated as a precedent.
The bench recorded the statement of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented the Centre. He said, a policy to provide compensation to the families of students who died by suicide following the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 will be formulated within three months.
The bench also recorded a statement by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) announcing the withdrawal of its proposed protest march in Delhi on 5th of this month. CJP spokesperson Saurav Das told the bench that the decision was taken in view of steps initiated by the Centre to withdraw cases registered against protesters.
Meanwhile, the government welcomed the decision announced by the CJP to call off the protest scheduled for September 5. Talking to media in New Delhi, Union Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda assured that the cases registered against the protesting students would be withdrawn and that no harsh action would be taken against them in the future. He said that Centre has also consulted with the state governments ruled by the BJP and are now fulfilling that assurance. He added that the government’s top priority is progress and development of the youth.
