Don't make us probe agency, says Gujarat High Court; refuses to take cognisance of attack on foreign students

A division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P Mayee refused to take suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the incident in which foreign students offering namaz were assaulted by a group of people.

Ahmedabad: "Don't make us an investigation agency", the High Court said firmly on Monday, while rejecting a request from a lawyer to take up as a suo motu PIL the attack on foreign students at state-run Gujarat University over the weekend.

The High Court division bench headed by Chief Justice Sunita Agrawal along with Justice Aniruddha P Mayee underlined that they are not police inspectors, emphasising their role as a constitutional court.

The bench declined to take suo motu cognisance of the incident, highlighting that the police would handle the matter. The court's stance was clear that not every incident in the city warrants a PIL.

The bench, in a reprimand of sorts, said, "Our effort is that justice be done. But don't make us an investigating agency. We are not doing that. We still want to remind ourselves that we are constitutional courts."

"We will definitely take into cognisance if such a matter comes in, but this is not one of those," the Chief Justice said. The decision came after lawyer K R Koshti urged the HC to consider the issue as a suo motu PIL. 

The Chief Justice emphasised, "Don't substitute this court with police inspectors...We are not investigating officers."

The court advised the lawyer to seek legal recourse if there were concerns about the FIR filed by the police. Around two dozen people allegedly barged into the government-run Gujarat University's hostel in Ahmedabad on Saturday night and raised an objection to students from foreign countries offering namaz near the facility block where they stayed, according to the police.

Two students - one from Sri Lanka and another from Tajikistan - were hospitalised after the incident which took place in the A-block hostel, police earlier said. An FIR was registered against 20-25 unidentified assailants, and nine teams were formed to conduct a probe into the incident, they said. So far, five persons have been arrested in connection with the incident, the police said.

An FIR was registered against 20-25 unidentified assailants, and nine teams were formed to conduct a probe into the incident, they said. So far, five persons have been arrested in connection with the incident, the police said.