ON AUGUST 1, a Supreme Court (‘SC’) bench headed by Chief Justice of India (‘CJI’) Surya Kant in an unprecedented order quashed all First Information Reports (‘FIRs’) registered against students who participated in the Cockroach Janta Party-led protests across the country between July 20 and 25, 2026. It is worthwhile to flag that the BJP-led government at the centre and the governments of BJP ruled states in Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, and Maharashtra approached the Supreme Court for quashing of FIRs by invoking Article 142 of the Constitution which mandates the SC to pass any order to do ‘complete justice’.
It is instructive that the SC in this significant order categorically noted that the governments of the aforementioned BJP ruled states, as also BJP led Government at the Centre, approached the Court for quashing the FIRs “as a gesture of good will and to ensure that the subject FIRs do not cause any prejudice to the young students who participated in the peaceful protests, and also as an acknowledgement of the fact that mere participation in the protests is not taken as an offence under the penal laws…”
It also noted that the decision was taken to quash the FIRs not only because of the requests of Union Government and some of the State Governments but “…most importantly, keeping in view the future prospects of the young protesters, who bonafidely came to participate in a peaceful protest to raise their voice in favour of certain demands.”
It is thus crystal clear that SC categorically stated twice that protests launched by students on the issue of irregularities in the NEET-UG were peaceful and it also unequivocally stated the well settled constitutional stand point that “mere participation in the protests is not taken as an offence under the penal laws…”
