New Delhi: The Supreme Court’s order allowing investigations into FIRs registered during the nationwide student protests to continue has not gone down well with the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
It reacted to the order on Tuesday, saying it was contrary to the assurances given by the Centre during negotiations that led to the end of the agitation.
CJP spokesperson Saurav Das said that the outfit respected any direction issued by the top court in the interest of students, but maintained that its own demands, agreed upon during negotiations with the government, had to be fulfilled first.
“If the Supreme Court is acting in the interest of the youth, we welcome such orders or judgments. We, on the other hand, have been active on the ground for a long time, and we have certain demands that must be met; that is the most important thing,” Das said.
One of the central demands to end the protest was the withdrawal of all FIRs against protesters and the release of those detained, he said.
“One of our key demands was that all FIRs registered against the protesters be withdrawn and that everyone who was detained be released. The government also needs to honour the commitments it made during the press conference,” Das said as quoted by news agency ANI.
The Supreme Court’s ruling is different to what was promised to the CJP duing negotiations with the Centre, he said, emphasising that its understanding with the government was different and it expected that it would be fulfilled.
“However, the Supreme Court has now stated that FIRs that were already registered will not be withdrawn. This is not what was discussed in our negotiations with the government. Our understanding with the government was different, and we expect it to fulfil the assurances it gave us. The conditions being imposed by the Supreme Court are not acceptable to us,” Das added.
The CJP had already warned the government of fresh protests if the assurances were not honoured, he added.
“We held a press conference yesterday evening where we announced that if the government fails to keep its word, we will be compelled to call for a major protest in Delhi once again,” Das said.
“Whatever the Supreme Court says should be in addition to our demands. Our demands must be met first; the government should then comply with whatever the Supreme Court says or whatever relief it grants. That is our demand,” he added.
This came hours after the Supreme Court restrained states from taking any coercive action against protesters involved in the recent student-led agitation, provided they had no criminal antecedents. The top court also directed authorities to release detained students below the age of 18, subject to the same condition.
The bench, however, made it clear that the relief would not extend to those with criminal records and permitted the Delhi Police to continue investigations into the FIRs.
The bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said a fair and independent probe on the matter was required while hearing a batch of petitions alleging police brutality during demonstrations against irregularities in exams and the NEET UG 2026 paper leak.
“Whosoever committed excesses, took law into their hands should be taken to task,” the bench, also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana, observed as it took note of allegations such as the use of pellet guns, lathis with nails and electric batons, resulting in severe and life threatening injuries to several students and young women, as reported by News18.
While stating that it is mulling an independent, transparent and thorough probe into all allegations by a task force, the bench said a probe is also required to ascertain the attacks on 250 policemen and whether they were by students or some “miscreants”.
The Court also issued a slew of interim directions to states, where protests were held, to preserve CCTV footage, drone recordings, body-camera footage, wireless communication records, PCR logs and other digital evidence pertaining to the protests.
It also ordered that any digital data collected on protesters be preserved but not brought into the public domain.
The CJP had launched a protest at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, demanding the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who later stepped down following a 36-day agitation.
Things took a turn for the worse on July 20, when the CJP took out a march towards Parliament. Violence broke out after the police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) stopped the protesters.
