Petitioners have approached the Supreme Court seeking a complete overhaul of the HPEC tasked with investigating the police crackdown on NEET-UG protesters. They argue the current committee lacks the capacity to probe top-tier executive officials.

  • Petitioners seek re-constitution of the High-Powered Enquiry Committee (HPEC).
  • Concerns raised regarding the committee's ability to probe top Union Executive and Home Ministry officials.
  • Solicitor General dismissed the petitioners' concerns as 'unwarranted'.

New Delhi: The legal battle surrounding the police crackdown on students protesting the NEET-UG paper leak has intensified. Petitioners have urgently moved the Supreme Court, seeking the re-constitution of the High-Powered Enquiry Committee (HPEC) currently tasked with investigating the July 20 incidents.

The application, presented before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant by senior advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Prashant Bhushan, and Neha Rathi, argues that the existing committee is 'under-equipped' for the scale of the investigation required. The petitioners emphasized that they are not questioning the personal integrity of the HPEC members, but rather the structural capacity of the committee to investigate the highest echelons of power.

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Why This Matters

BozokMedia analysis shows that the outcome of this plea will set a significant precedent for how investigative bodies in India handle allegations involving top-ranking officials. If the probe remains limited to field-level personnel, it may fail to address the systemic decisions made by the Ministry of Home Affairs and senior police leadership.

An enquiry involving high-ranking officials must be visibly and decisively insulated from executive and institutional influence to ensure true justice.

The petitioners have specifically requested an inquiry into the roles of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar, and Rapid Action Force (RAF) officials. They contend that the probe must examine whether specific directions were given to ensure proportional use of force, or if personnel were instructed to hide their identities by not wearing uniforms or name tags during the crackdown.

Responding to the plea, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta strongly objected, labeling the fears expressed by the petitioners as 'unwarranted and without basis.' He argued that the petitioners were attempting to impose their will upon the court by naming specific high-ranking individuals. However, the petitioners maintained that the current committee's composition—which includes several former officials with long-standing ties to the executive—creates a reasonable apprehension of institutional bias.

Did You Know?: The HPEC, chaired by former Judge R. Subhash Reddy, includes several retired judicial and police officers, yet petitioners claim it lacks specialized investigative expertise for civil liberties cases.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the primary demand of the petitioners?
The petitioners want a new committee that is more capable of independently investigating high-ranking officials from the Home Ministry, Delhi Police, and the RAF.

2. Who is currently on the HPEC?
The committee includes Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, Justice Shalinder Kaur, Rishi Kumar Shukla (former CBI Director), and Dr. L.R. Bishnoi (retired DGP).