NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday said the High Powered Enquiry Committee (HPEC), constituted to investigate violence during student protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in July, had received very few complaints from those affected by it.During the hearing, the panel told a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant that it had issued notices in 149 newspapers inviting complaints regarding the violence during a march to Parliament on July 20. However, it received very few complaints, either online or in physical form.It also informed the top court that it had issued another appeal inviting complaints on October 21.Also Read | Supreme Court’s enquiry committee launches complaint portal over violence during July protestsFollowing this, the bench, also comprisig Justice Joymalya Bagchi, observed that in the absence of sufficient material, the panel was currently unable to arrive at any finding. It gave the committe one month to submit an initial fact-finding report.The bench also directed that all petitions, videos and complaints related to the violence be forwarded to the committee, which was constituted by the top court under the chairmanship of retired Supreme Court judge R Subhash Reddy.
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The other members of the panel include former Punjab and Haryana high court Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Delhi high court judge Shalinder Kaur, ex-CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla and retired Meghalaya DGP LR Bishnoi.The Supreme Court had constituted the committe in August to investigate allegations of violence against student protesters and police personnel during demonstrations at Jantar Mantar and other parts of the country.The protests were organised to demand the resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan following the NEET-UG paper leak in May. Jantar Mantar, Delhi’s designated protest site at the time, emerged as the focal point of the demonstrations, which later spread to other parts of the country.Pradhan resigned on July 25, following which the protests came to an end.
