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Justice Jagadish Chandra of Madras High Court has quashed First Information Reports (FIRs) against members of Campus Friends of India (CFI), a student organisation that protested against the suicide of a first year girl student in her hostel room in the campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. The student had named certain faculties in her suicide note, allegedly responsible for her suicide.

The members of CFI had attempted to surround the IIT-Madras campus on November 9, 2019, raising slogans against the management and faculty of IIT, and allegedly preventing the free flow of traffic. The FIR was registered as the members of the organisation continued to protest despite being asked by the police not to form an illegal assembly.

When the matter came up for hearing, the counsel for CFI submitted that the protestors were law abiding persons who had gathered only to ventilate their grievance and that they had not disturbed the public order. It was further submitted that the petitioners are social activists, who have been raising voice for public cause and public welfare whenever any injustice has occurred. 

It was argued by CFI that during the course of investigation, no independent witness had been brought by the police to be examined in the Court despite them having cited 8 witnesses. It was further argued that no individual from the common public had come to lodge a complaint before the police against the petitioners.

The counsel for CFI argued that the petitioners had protested by raising slogans against the management of IIT Madras and later dispersed by themselves and no untoward incident had occurred.

The Public Prosecutor submitted that one of the petitioners had pled guilty and his name features in the FIR, however, he submitted that no investigation had been done with regard to the identity of the other accused.

The Court said, “Admittedly, a pathetic incident had occurred inside the campus of an educational institution", and appreciated that the petitioners, belonging to a social activist group called Campus Friends of India, had protested in front of the Institution seeking justice for the victim by arrest of the faculty.

Thereafter it held that, “Though, the Members of the said organisation had assembled and protested against the management of Indian Institute of Technology and thereby prevented the free flow of general public and traffic, no person from the general public had given any complaint and the protest and demonstration was made only in respect of the suspicious death of a girl in a hostel room.”

Noting that in the FIR, 4 named and 96 unknown persons have been mentioned and it is also stated that as a preventive step, the petitioners were arrested but were let off on a station bail, the Court relied on the fact that the statement of witnesses recorded  showed that there was no proper investigation to identity the persons involved in the protest. It further noted that other than the two persons, who were office bearers of CFI, no investigation was conducted to identity any other accused.

Therefore, it held that “no violation is reported in this case and the protest has also not ended in any kind of violence. Therefore, this Court, is of the considered view that further proceedings against the petitioners is liable to be quashed.”

Cause Title: Ashraf vs State of Tamil Nadu