Gujarat High Court Declines Suo Motu Action Against Mob Which Attacked Foreign Students At Gujarat University Campus During Namaz

The Gujarat High Court today refused to take suo motu cognizance of an incident where five foreign students of Gujarat University were allegedly attacked by a mob while praying on the university campus.

Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal declined the request, stating, “the police will look into it, that is not a matter of PIL. Every matter is not a matter of PIL. Let the police take note of this. Every incident in the city is not a matter of PIL.”

“You go to the police. A complaint is to be lodged. It is a matter of police complaint. Don't substitute this court with the inspectors or police. Don't make us inspectors or police. We are not the investigating officers,” she further emphasized.

An advocate urged the Court to take suo motu cognizance of the incident, asserting that the police had failed to invoke proper provisions of the law against the assailants.

During the hearing, the advocate attempted to draw a comparison with the GNLU Case, wherein the High Court had taken suo motu cognizance of a newspaper report about two separate incidents concerning the Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar. However, Chief Justice Agarwal dismissed this comparison, stating, “No Mr. Counsel that is a completely different aspect. That issue has nothing to do with this issue.”

Concluding her remarks, Chief Justice Agarwal emphasized, “Don't make us the investigating agency. We're not doing that. We still want to remind ourselves that we're constitutional courts, so we will definitely take into cognisance if such matter comes in but this is not one of those.”

Notably, five foreign students at Gujarat University were injured, with two requiring hospitalization after a group of 20-25 individuals entered their hostel and attacked them for performing namaz during Ramadan.

The incident occurred on Saturday night, prompting police intervention and subsequent arrests. Among the injured were students from Sri Lanka, Turkmenistan, various African nations, and Afghanistan.

LL Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Guj) 14