New Delhi: A law student on Wednesday approached Delhi High Court challenging Delhi University’s decision to ban public meetings, processions, demonstrations and protests on campus for a month over concerns of obstruction of traffic, threats to safety and disturbance of public peace. Justice Jasmeet Singh made the police a party to the proceedings and directed that the petition be treated as a public interest litigation.
The matter will now be listed for further hearing in March before the bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya. The plea said the DU proctor notified the ban on Feb 17 without any consultation or discussion with the students’ union, colleges, the teachers’ union, the executive council or the academic council. A “blanket prohibition”, the plea asserted, was issued arbitrarily and was “vague” and disproportionate. It added that, because of the ban, DU colleges were not conducting events or seminars, and even the annual fests were either cancelled or postponed. “Educational institutes are places where students learn; this place cannot be curbed and silenced through an order. Freedom of speech and expression is at the core of the fundamental rights of any citizen in the country,” the plea said. The ban came after recent controversies, where two FIRs were registered by Delhi Police earlier this month after a scuffle broke out between two student groups during a protest.
