Today, the Supreme Court came down heavily on a Greater Noida Executive Magistrate for issuing a notice to a student over his alleged participation in the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protests held in July.

The Court questioned how the Executive Magistrate could issue such a notice despite its September 1 order quashing all cases against students arising from the CJP protests and expressly directing that no coercive action be taken against any student in connection with the demonstrations.

“How could the magistrate issue the notice? Our order was clear that no coercive action can be taken against any student across the country. How dare a magistrate do that?” the Court remarked.

On September 1, the Supreme Court had invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to bring an end to all cases against students arising from the CJP protests.

The Court had directed that FIRs registered between July 20 and 25 across States and Union Territories in connection with the protests would not be pursued or investigated and would be treated as closed for all purposes. It had further ordered that no fresh action be initiated against any student in relation to the protests.

The issue concerning the Greater Noida student was brought before the Supreme Court by senior advocate Bishwajit Bhattacharyya.

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the Court would seek an explanation from the Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate and Executive Magistrate over the notice issued to the student on September 4.

The notice was issued to Akshat Tripathi, a second-year student at Gautam Buddh University. It allegedly accused him of spreading anti-government information and encouraging students to participate in the CJP protest at Jantar Mantar.

The Court was informed that the notice was withdrawn the very next day, on September 5.

Senior Advocate Bhattacharyya described the incident as an “experiment with students of India” and urged the Supreme Court to intervene to ensure that similar incidents do not recur.

The Chief Justice agreed with the concern and expressed surprise at the action of the Executive Magistrate.

“We are surprised how an executive magistrate or a district magistrate can issue a notice when our September 1 order was clear that no action can be taken against our youth for participating in the protest,” the CJI observed.