‘This is absolute justice’ : Dipke hails SC’s quashing of FIRs against students

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Tuesday, September 1, welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to quash all FIRs registered against students who participated in protests over the NEET paper leak, calling the order "absolute justice".

Speaking to reporters, Dipke thanked the Supreme Court and said the order had delivered justice to students who took part in the protests at Jantar Mantar and to families who lost their children to suicide amid the controversy over the examination.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed all FIRs registered against students who participated in the CJP-led protests between July 20 and 25 across the country. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant also directed the Centre to provide compensation within three months to families of students who died by suicide over the NEET paper leak.

"Our demands have been met. This is absolute justice. It took us a month (for this)," Dipke said.

He attributed the outcome to what he described as people's power and said he had held meetings with several delegations during the agitation.

Dipke also apologised to the families of students who died by suicide, saying the protesters had been unable to prevent their deaths.

"I apologise to the families that we could not save your kids. We are very sorry that you lost your kids," he said.

Alleging that the deaths were the result of failures in the system and the government's handling of the paper leak issue, Dipke said the authorities must ensure that such incidents do not put students' lives at risk in the future.

"The government has accepted the demands but it has to take the responsibility that not a single student dies due to paper leak," he said.

He added that the government should ensure that no student loses their life because of failures in the examination system.

"We cannot afford this anymore," Dipke said.

The CJP-led march in Delhi on July 20 had witnessed clashes between protesters and security personnel. Police used batons and tear gas to disperse protesters who attempted to move towards Parliament.

The student-led agitation, which spread to several cities, had focused on the NEET paper leak and related examination concerns, besides demanding the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The protests began at Jantar Mantar on June 20 and were called off on July 25 after Pradhan resigned and the government accepted the CJP's other demands.