"No application of mind": Delhi High Court on DU order barring student who organised screening of BBC Documentary on PM Modi

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Delhi University (DU) to file its response within three days on a plea by the national secretary of Congress' student wing challenging his debarment from the university on allegations that he organised a screening of the BBC documentary about Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi. .Lokesh Chugh of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) was debarred from appearing in any university/college/departmental examination for a period of one year.Chugh is Ph.D. research scholar at the Department of Anthropology at the Delhi University..During the hearing of the plea today, Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav remarked that University’s order did not reflect application of mind.“There has to be independent application of mind which is not reflected in the order… The order must reflect the reasoning,” the Court remarked.Advocate Mohinder Rupal appeared for the DU and stated that he wants to produce some documents which led to the University’s decision.Chugh’s counsels argued that last date for submission of his Ph. D. thesis is April 30 and therefore there is some urgency in the matter.Justice Kaurav responded that once the petitioner is before the Court, his rights would be protected.“Mr Mohinder Rupal seeks time to file Counter Affidavit. Let the same be done in three working days. Petitioner is also at liberty to file the rejoinder in two days thereafter. List on Monday,” the Court ordered..On January 27, 2023 a protest was organised at the DU campus. During the protest, the BBC documentary titled "India: The Modi Question" was also screened for public viewing.In his plea, Chugh has stated that at the time of the protest he was not even present on the spot and was instead at a media interaction."Pertinently, the petitioner was giving a live interview at the time when the Documentary was being screened inside the Faculty of Arts (Main Campus). Thereafter, police detained a few students for screening the allegedly banned BBC documentary and subsequently charged them for disturbance of peace in the area. Notably, the Petitioner was neither detained nor charged with any form of incitement or violence or disturbance of peace by the police," he stated.However, the DU issued a show cause notice to him on February 16 holding that he was involved in disturbance of law and order in the University during the screening and subsequently, on March 10, a memorandum was issued debarring him.Chugh's plea argues that the University passed the order against him in violation of principal of natural justice and that he was not even informed about the charges and findings against him by the disciplinary authority.The plea, therefore, demands setting aside of the memorandum and quashing of the notice holding that Chugh was involved in distrubance of law and order.In the interim, he has sought a stay on the memorandum.