Written by Manraj Grewal SharmaChandigarh | November 10, 2025 05:51 PM IST 2 min readGupta submitted that, with the passage of time, “many issues and disputes may have become infructuous,” and a consolidated, present-day picture was necessary before the bench could determine how the matter should proceed.Nearly nine years after the Punjab and Haryana High Court took suo motu cognizance of widespread violence and alleged lawlessness during the 2016 Jat agitation, the matter was on Monday virtually revived, with the court calling for a fresh status report on developments that have taken place over the past six to seven years.A division bench led by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu directed Haryana to file a synopsis detailing the current position on four core issues identified by the court in August 2018, when the case was last substantially streamlined. The synopsis is to be vetted by Amicus Curiae and Senior Advocate Anupam Gupta before being placed on record.Gupta informed the court that earlier hearings had narrowed the case to four principal areas:1. Monitoring of the ongoing probe under senior IPS officer Amitabh Dhillon into cases registered during the violence;2. Whether a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was required into allegations of sexual assault against women near Murthal during the agitation;3. Monitoring of the CBI investigation into the breach of the Munak canal, which had disrupted water supply to Delhi; and4. Scrutiny of the state’s move to withdraw criminal cases registered against agitators.Story continues below this adGupta submitted that, with the passage of time, “many issues and disputes may have become infructuous,” and a consolidated, present-day picture was necessary before the bench could determine how the matter should proceed.Taking note of this, the bench said the state must now provide a clear, updated account of investigation progress, closure reports, pending trials, government decisions on case withdrawal, and any developments in the Murthal and Munak canal matters since the court last examined the record in 2018.The court said the summary placed by the state must first be vetted by the Amicus Curiae, who has been assisting the bench since the suo motu proceedings began in 2016, following media reports.The matter will be taken up next week, after the vetted synopsis is filed.© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd