Supreme Court Bars Coercive Action Against Students Over CJP-Led NEET-UG 2026 Protests

Supreme Court Bars Coercive Action Against Students Over CJP-Led NEET-UG 2026 Protests

New Delhi, July 28, 2026 [VoM News]: The apex court have issued the direction to all states not to take any coercive action against students who participated in the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led protests.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohan ordered that those students having no criminal antecedents, if are currently detained, must be immediately released.

Whereas, those inviduals having previous criminal records, this direction not extends to those. The court did not specified about the nature of action to ve taken against them.

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The directions cake, as the honorable court was hearing a batch of petitions alleging excessive use of force by police during student protests at Jantar Mantar, which later spread to different states including Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat, Assam, West Bengal and Kerala.

The petitions alleged that protesters were subjected to lathi-charge, tear gas, pellet guns and electric weapons in violation of their constitutional rights under Articles 14, 19, 20 and 21.

Observing that the allegations prima facie warrant an independent and impartial investigation, the Supreme Court directed authorities to preserve all CCTV footage, drone recordings, body-camera videos, wireless communication records and Police Control Room (PCR) logs related to the protests.

The Court also ordered that the digital data and personal information of protesters be preserved but not made public.

Additionally, the Supreme Court directed the Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Police (DGPs) of the concerned states to appear at the next hearing, which has been scheduled for August 3.