On 10 February, 2020, Madras High Court Judge ordered 28 students to sweep and mop the general ward of the K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical College in Tiruchi. Madras High Court’s novel judgment gave a group of 28 engineering students, charged with rioting and criminal harassment, a chance to mend their ways — by actually mopping up a mess.
The judgement was given by Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira.
The students had filed a plea to quash the First Informational Report (FIR) registered against them.
In the case of campus abuse, two groups of students from Oxford Engineering College in Pirattiyur, Tiruchi, assaulted each other with beer bottles and wood logs in July last year. At least five students were wounded in the incident.
According to the police, the abuse was accompanied by a 4th year student's threat to a third-year student group against the bullying of fellow students. What started as a threat turned into a wordy duel, and then exploded into a brawl, and even spilled outside the campus.
All 28 students were arrested by the police on the basis of separate complaints filed by both groups. The E. Pudur police have registered a case under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC).
The charges against the students were Section 147 (rioting), Section 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), Section 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) & Section 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation).
The students have had agreed to compromise and moved the HC seeking the quashing of the FIR.
Justice Jagadish Chandira, who quashed the FIR, then ordered the students to approach the Dean of the K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical College and clean up the General Ward on 22 February.
The case for reporting on enforcement was also released on 26 February, 2020.
Author: Harneet Singh
