SC declines to reconstitute HPEC probing NEET-UG protest crackdown

The Supreme Court has declined to reconstitute the High-Powered Enquiry Committee (HPEC) examining the police crackdown on the July 20 Cockroach Janta Party protests, holding that allegations of conflict of interest raised by petitioners were premature and rested on conjecture.

In an order dated September 10 and made public on Wednesday, a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said it viewed with disquiet the aspersions cast on the committee before it had begun its work. The Bench said it was not inclined to make any alteration to the panel's composition when the request proceeded on preconceived notions articulated ahead of the enquiry.

The court constituted the HPEC on August 20 to examine issues and allegations arising from the nationwide student protests against NEET-UG paper leaks, including claims of police excesses. The committee is headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice R. Subhash Reddy. Its members are Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court; Justice Shalinder Kaur, former judge of the Delhi High Court; Rishi Kumar Shukla, former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation; and Dr. L.R. Bishnoi, retired Director General of Police, Meghalaya.

Petitioners, represented by senior advocates N. Hariharan and Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocates Prashant Bhushan, Vrinda Grover and Neha Rathi, had said they were not apprehending bias but wanted the committee to inspire confidence.

The court said the HPEC was set up to assist the Supreme Court itself, and was expected to work to the highest standards of fairness and transparency with a dispassionate approach. It was not created to espouse the cause of any party before the court, the Bench observed.

The immediate focus of the enquiry, the court reiterated, would be the use of pellet guns, targeted violence, harassment of female protesters, and excessive violence and destruction of property by both sides.

The Bench directed that an online portal be created so that vulnerable witnesses and other stakeholders can submit documents and evidence directly to the HPEC. It said the committee must protect such witnesses and keep their identities and participation confidential, adding that utmost confidentiality would be maintained over their statements and evidence.

Senior advocate Monika Gusain and advocate-on-record C. Solomon were appointed amici curiae to assist the court and act as independent arbiters among the parties.

The court said broader constitutional questions would be taken up at an appropriate stage. These include the use of facial recognition surveillance by police at the Jantar Mantar protest site and the alleged storage of that data with private entities.