Indian SC orders release of minors held in exam leak protests

India’s Supreme Court has ordered the release of protesters under 18 arrested during demonstrations over exam paper leaks and barred coercive action against participants, as the court also moved to preserve evidence amid allegations of police excess.

Indian media reports said Chief Justice Surya Kant on Tuesday directed authorities to retain surveillance footage, including material from drones, body cameras and CCTV cameras, and ensure that digital and personal data of protesters was neither destroyed nor made public.

The interim directions came on petitions filed by student protesters and activists seeking action against police and paramilitary personnel over what they described as excessive force, including the use of pellet guns, during weeks of protests in New Delhi and other cities.

Kant said, “Whoever has committed excess ... atrocities on innocent people, the law will take care of them. For that, there needs to be a completely independent and fair investigation.” He also said, “A probe is meaningless if no responsibility is fixed.”

Government defends police response

The government has maintained that police action amounted to lawful crowd control. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that allegations of attacks on students could not be treated lightly, but added that about 250 police officers were also injured and said the government had no objection to an investigation.

The protests were triggered by the leak of question papers for a national medical college entrance exam. The agitation ended on Saturday after the education minister resigned and the government accepted demands for exam reforms, withdrawal of police cases and compensation for families of students who died by suicide after the leaks.

Clashes and surveillance concerns

The unrest saw confrontations between protesters and security forces in several parts of India. In New Delhi, people attempting to march on parliament were met with tear gas and baton charges.

Authorities have also suspended a police officer in an eastern state for firing rounds in the air from an assault rifle to disperse student protesters over the weekend.

The demonstrations have also drawn scrutiny over the use of AI-powered surveillance. Activists challenged the deployment of a mobile police surveillance van equipped with cameras on a telescopic mast that provided a 360-degree view of a protest gathering.

The self-styled Cockroach Janta Party, which led the movement, said on Monday that “hundreds” of students had been arrested in different states despite the government’s commitment. That claim could not be independently verified.