- Court declined urgent listing or viewing videos during this mentioning.
Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant on Friday strongly refuted media reports claiming that the Supreme Court had declined to hear a petition challenging alleged police excesses against student protesters. Clarifying the sequence of events in open court, the CJI said no writ petition had ever been filed before the apex court and criticised sections of the media for portraying a mere representation as a formally instituted case.
The clarification comes days after reports suggested that the Supreme Court had refused to urgently list a plea concerning the July 20 police action against students protesting over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG 2026 examination.
CJI Says No Petition Was Ever Filed
Expressing displeasure over the reporting, Justice Surya Kant stated that the court had not received any properly filed petition on the issue.
“In the last two days, a completely false statement was made that a matter was filed,” the Chief Justice said. He further clarified that, as of 10 am on Friday, “not a single page” had been submitted before the Supreme Court.
Explaining what had actually reached the court, the CJI said, “It was one representation sent by that Mishra or someone. How can I treat the representation as a writ petition? And people start recklessly reporting this.”
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The bench described such reporting as “irresponsible and reckless,” stressing that a representation addressed to the court cannot automatically be treated as a writ petition in the absence of a formal filing.
Confusion Stemmed From Lawyer’s Mentioning
The controversy traces back to proceedings held two days earlier, when a lawyer mentioned the issue before a bench headed by the Chief Justice and sought an urgent hearing on allegations of excessive force used by police during the July 20 student protest.
During the mentioning, the lawyer informed the court that videos allegedly showing police action against demonstrators were available and requested that the matter be listed the following day. However, the bench declined to entertain the request at that preliminary stage.
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Court Declined To View Videos During Mentioning
The lawyer also informed the court that he intended to seek broader relief, including directions to ensure fair conduct of the NEET examination and the dissolution of the National Testing Agency (NTA) over repeated paper leak allegations.
As the bench proceeded to the next matter, the counsel persisted, offering to show video footage purportedly depicting police action against protesters. The Chief Justice, however, made it clear that the court was not inclined to examine such material during an oral mentioning.
The exchange subsequently received widespread media attention, leading to reports that the Supreme Court had declined to hear a petition. On Friday, the Chief Justice clarified that no petition had been instituted at all, emphasising that only a representation had been received and that no judicial decision had been taken on a non-existent writ petition.
