Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Friday termed as "reckless" media reports claiming that he had refused an urgent hearing on a plea challenging the July 20 police action against students protesting against the NEET paper leak, clarifying that no petition had been filed before the Supreme Court.
The CJI said that what had been received was merely a representation and not a writ petition.
"In the last two days, a completely false statement was made that a matter was filed, and the media is absolutely free from all responsibility and falsely reporting that the Chief Justice refused to list the matter," he said.
"Till morning 10 am, not a single page has been filed. It was one representation... sent by Mishra or someone. How can I treat the representation as a writ petition? And people start recklessly reporting this," the CJI said while lawyers were mentioning matters for urgent listing.
On Wednesday, a lawyer had sought an urgent hearing on the police action during the Cockroach Janta Party-led protest march in Delhi on July 20.
"I have the videos as well regarding police brutality... If it can be listed tomorrow (Thursday)... students are there," the lawyer had submitted, alleging that students were subjected to police brutality during the protest.
The CJI declined the request, making it clear that the bench was not inclined to examine video footage at the mentioning stage.
What CJI said on students' protest plea
"We are not interested in videos, we don't have time to watch... We don't want to watch videos," the CJI had said.
When the counsel reiterated that students had been beaten up and again referred to the video evidence, the CJI responded, "Don't waste our time. We don't want to watch any videos."
The Cockroach Janta Party-led 'Chalo Sansad' march on July 20 witnessed clashes between protesters and security personnel, who used lathis and tear gas to disperse crowds attempting to march towards Parliament. The protesters were demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged NEET examination paper leak.
Supreme Court prohibits posting videos of hearing on social media without permission
The Supreme Court on Friday barred the posting, reposting or uploading of audio and video recordings of court proceedings on social media and other digital platforms without prior permission from the Secretary General of the Supreme Court or the respective Registrars General of the High Courts.
A bench comprising the CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana passed the direction while hearing a plea highlighting the alleged misuse of live-streamed court proceedings and the circulation of court videos on social media.
The bench also issued notices to the Centre and other respondents, seeking their responses on the petition.
With inputs from PTI
Also Read:
SC seeks details from Centre on NEET paper leaks, says put an end to series of errors
