The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that it would consider constituting a high-powered investigating team to conduct a “thorough, fair and independent” inquiry into allegations of police excesses during the recent student protests in Delhi and several other States, while ordering the immediate release of all minors arrested in connection with the demonstrations and restraining the police from taking coercive action against protesting students unless they had criminal antecedents.While underlining that the Constitution guarantees the right to peaceful protest, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant observed that an independent probe was necessary to examine the allegations of police violence through a “scientific” and “evidence-based” inquiry.“The allegations made by the petitioners, prima facie, establish a compelling case for an independent and impartial investigation into the incidents of violence”, the Bench observed, adding that the proposed probe would also examine complaints by the families of police personnel who were allegedly injured during the protests.The interim directions came while the top court was hearing a batch of petitions alleging the use of disproportionate force by the police against protesters during demonstrations over the NEET examination paper leak, including the July 20 Parliament march in Delhi and subsequent protests in several States. The Hindu had earlier reported that at least four persons were struck by pellets during the Parliament march and that the Rapid Action Force (RAF) fired two rounds from an anti-riot gun on the directions of a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP)-rank officer.The Bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, issued notices to the Union government, the Delhi government and the Chief Secretaries of Maharashtra, Bihar, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Kerala, directing them to place their responses on record. It indicated that it would decide whether to order an independent probe after considering the responses filed by the authorities.Taking note of petitions alleging that student protesters had been illegally arrested and detained by the police, the top court directed the authorities to forthwith release all minors detained in connection with the demonstrations. While permitting the police to continue investigating the FIRs registered in relation to the protests, it restrained the authorities from taking any coercive action against students unless they had criminal antecedents.“The NCT of Delhi and other States may proceed with the investigation of the FIRs registered; however, no coercive measures shall be taken against the protesting students. Such protection, nonetheless, shall not be extended to the persons with criminal antecedents,” the Bench ordered.As an interim measure, the Bench directed the police authorities to preserve all CCTV footage, drone recordings, body-worn camera footage, wireless communication records and PCR call records relating to the protests. It also ordered that while the police may preserve the digital data of protesters for the purposes of the investigation, they shall not disclose any personal information in the public domain.“The police authorities shall ensure that the personal information and digital data of the protestors, collected during the students’ protests, are preserved and are not disclosed to the public domain for the time being. The respondent(s) may not publish any public data/details of the protestors, especially students”, the Bench said.Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for petitioner Shailendra Mani Tripathi, referred to videographic evidence allegedly showing the use of pellet guns and electric batons against protesters and urged the court to fix accountability. He also questioned the absence of any prohibitory orders in the Jantar Mantar area, the lack of name tags on police personnel and the deployment of officers in plain clothes for crowd-control duties.“We have named individual police personnel, with video, who are responsible for this action... These people behaved with a licence... We want responsibility placed above the ladder. Police think they can get away with this,” he said.Echoing these concerns, senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for one of the petitioners, placed on record photographs allegedly depicting the use of pellet guns and police personnel in plain clothes using force against protesters. “There are reports of electric shock weapons being used on protesters. The RAF has admitted the use of projectile-action guns (PAGs) against unarmed protesters. We have set out the details and placed credible media reports on record,” he submitted.Appearing for a law student who was allegedly illegally detained by the Bihar police, senior advocate Shadan Farasat submitted that nearly 150 individuals, most of them minors, continued to remain in custody.Acknowledging the concerns raised by the petitioners, the Chief Justice observed that an independent probe would look into the allegations and ensure that the law dealt with any excesses or atrocities found to have been committed by police personnel.“Whosoever has committed excess, committed atrocities on innocent people, the law will take care of them. For that, there needs to be a completely independent and fair investigation…Probe is meaningless if no responsibility is fixed,” he said.Notably, the court also indicated that it may revisit its earlier decisions governing police responses to public demonstrations, observing that a uniform protocol was required to regulate police conduct during such protests. It said the principles evolved in earlier decisions, including those arising from the 2011 Ramlila Maidan incident, may require reconsideration with the efflux of time.“The previous judgments, with the passage of time, may require some modifications... A time has come to collate all these principles and update them,” the Chief Justice said.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi Police and the Union government, submitted that he had no objection to the constitution of an independent probe. He also brought to the Bench’s notice that several police personnel had allegedly been injured by miscreants during the protests.“If students have suffered in any manner, perpetrators have to be brought to book,” he said, adding that “anti-social elements” may have infiltrated the demonstrations.The Bench observed that both “narratives” warranted a fair examination, cautioning that there was always a “danger” of a peaceful movement being discredited. “Use of pellet guns, electric batons and lathi resulting in life-threatening injuries are some of the issues... Excessive use of pellet guns is something that needs to be looked into,” the Bench added.The Bench posted the matter for further hearing on August 3, when it will consider the responses to be filed by the Centre and the States.AISA alleges crackdown on student protesters, seeks release of detained activistsThe All India Students’ Association (AISA) on Tuesday alleged that students protesting against alleged examination paper leaks are facing a crackdown nationwide, despite assurances from the Union Government that no punitive action would be taken against peaceful protesters.Addressing a press conference at the Press Club of India in New Delhi, AISA leaders claimed that arrests, detentions and police action are underway in several States, particularly Bihar and Delhi. They alleged that students had been booked under false charges and subjected to arbitrary detention.The press conference was addressed by AISA national president Neha, AISA Delhi University secretary Anjali, protest volunteer M. Junaid, along with advocate Manik Gupta of the legal team against illegal detentions.“CPI(ML) Liberation MLA Sandeep Saurav and several AISA activists remain behind bars for participating in protests against alleged paper leaks, especially student and youth activists in Bihar,” Neha said.Presenting what it described as a fact-finding report, AISA highlighted alleged detentions and injuries suffered by protesters in Delhi and detailed what it termed a police crackdown through arrests and detentions in Bihar and other States.“We were assured that students protesting peacefully would not face repression. However, what we have witnessed is continued arrests, arbitrary detentions and intimidation of students across the country. The government must uphold its promises, release those detained and engage with the concerns of students,” Neha said.AISA urged the Centre to prevent police action against students and activists nationwide and called for the immediate release of those detained in connection with the protests.Rajya Sabha MP moves Supreme Court against use of facial recognition technology at NEET protestsRajya Sabha Member of Parliament A.A. Rahim moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday against the deployment of facial recognition technology and allied mass surveillance measures by the Delhi Police against students and persons who participated in the Cockroach Janta Party-linked protests over the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) exam paper leaks.The petition sought a judicial declaration that such surveillance was unconstitutional. Rahim, represented by advocate Subhash Chandran, sought directions from the court to forthwith cease and desist from using facial recognition technology and other surveillance measures on peaceful protestors without a valid law.“The gravamen of the challenge is the automated, algorithmic extraction and matching of the biometric identifiers of thousands of peaceful protesters, and the interlinking of such data with permanent national criminal databases. Since the commencement of the sit-in on July 20, the Delhi Police have subjected thousands of protesters, journalists and ordinary citizens to continuous and pervasive biometric surveillance,” the petition said.The plea said the surveillance was done with the acquisition of videos and photographs through CCTV cameras, drones, a mobile command and control vehicle, and hand-held devices.“The real-time processing of such footage through automated facial recognition technology using the ‘Ikshana’ vehicle and ‘AjnaLens’ smart spectacles and the collection and matching of fingerprints through the National Crime Records Bureau’s ‘Abhigyan’ mobile application against the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System. This surveillance is carried out in a complete legal vacuum,” the petition said.The plea said neither the Delhi Police’s own standing orders governing the protests nor the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 authorise the biometric surveillance of persons attending a lawful assembly.“The Delhi Police’s own Right to Information (RTI) responses confirm that no privacy impact assessment was ever conducted, that an unvalidated 80% similarity score is treated as a positive match, and that facial recognition technology use is internally meant to be confined to tracing missing persons and identifying the dead. These objects are wholly unconnected with the policing of a peaceful protest,” the petition said.The scale and manner of surveillance seen at the protest site offended the right to privacy under Article 21 (right to life and dignity) of the Constitution, Rahim said.Cockroaches spreading their filth, who is birthing them?: Kangana Ranaut on CJP-led protestsActor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has kicked up a row with her social media tirade against those who took part in the Cockroach Janata Party-led protests, calling Gen Z as “generation gutter” and their videos from the agitation “puke inducing”.Her remarks came days after the 36-day agitation, led by the CJP along with students and civil society groups, ended on July 25 after the government accepted the protesters’ key demands, including the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.In a post on Instagram on Monday, the BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi described videos of protestors at Jantar Mantar a display of “filth, garbage and ugliness”.“Never in my life I have seen so much ugliness in one place, these reels from GenZ protests are puke inducing, the way they speak and the kind of language they are using, never in my life I have seen everything in each and every frame so jarring and so crass all at ones, ewwww who is birthing and raising them?” Ranaut said.“India is a place of diversely beautiful people, draped in elegance and rooted in cultural sophistication, you call yourself cockroaches and look/ behave like them as well there is no paradox or juxtaposition there, just simply subjecting the world to your filth, garbage and ugliness. I am scarred from these reels, need some healing, digital detox,” she added.In another post, the actor took aim at young women participating in the protests, saying their behaviour during the agitation was “most appalling”.“Women who are truly independent they make rebellious choices, bold opinions, unconventional career moves and they take accountability for their actions. They have to cos they are on their own. They don’t do this at the cost of their parents or families,” she added.“Here is a new generation of so called westernised Indian women. I call them Generation gutter,” she said.Ranaut said some of the women protestors were “so ugly and corrupt that they can’t be homemakers either”. “They proudly flaunt their freedom to have drugs, drinks or endless body counts and shamelessly live off their parents’ earnings and constantly fight to live independent lives without actually being independent.“Gentle reminder independent life needs to be earned. If you try to live independently without accountability, you are just a distorted entity, gutter chaap,” she added.In her latest post on Tuesday, Ranaut defended those who have confronted protesters over their social media content, saying criticism and backlash were inevitable consequences of their actions.“Protesters who are getting beaten and abused on the roads by ordinary people because of their filthy and abusive reels must understand that if you speak, you also have to be prepared to listen. If you damage public property, then the public will damage you too.“If you have a problem with the country and its leadership and have publicly hurled filthy abuses at them, then now listen to those who love this country and brought this government to power through their votes. Because they also have the right to speak,” she wrote.Quoting Newton’s third law of motion, the actor added, “Every action has equal and opposite reaction. If studying hasn’t helped you understand cause and effect, now you will understand it very well.”Ranaut’s statements went viral on social media, with many criticising the actor for her “crass comments”. Congress leaders Renuka Chowdhury and Imran Pratapgarhi slammed the language she used to describe the young.“It is unfortunate that a woman writes such things for getting praise from the government. When as an MP, you write such things, then I can only say that they are learning all this from you only. I think she will have to face consequences soon enough,” Chowdhury told a television channel.Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi told reporters, “I think its reply will be given to her by the country’s Gen Z...” One social media user referred to Ranaut’s past statements about Shaheen Bagh protests and actor Urmila Matondkar to point out that she had used derogatory language in the past.“Kangana Ranaut posted this story, criticising the language used in student protests. This is the same person who branded Urmila Matondkar a ‘soft porn star’ and mocked elderly women at the Farmers’ and Shaheen Bagh protests by claiming they were available to join for 100,” the user said.Another X user called her a hypocrite. “For someone who talks a whole lot of nothing and picks a non-issue every other month to bully others… She sure has a lot of opinions on young students taking a stand for their own rights. The kind of language BJP/RSS use on the daily… I think she’d find the Gen Z’s terminology very tame as opposed to the party she belongs to,” the person posted. A user said Ranaut’s comments were “weapons-grade cringe”.“How do you go from being a woman in power to using your platform to spew bitter 14 yr old incel level toxicity at women online? Bricks for brains, honestly,” she said.In Brief:Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said if he wants to win over the Gen Z then videos changing camera angles won’t help, as this generation has the enormous ability to identify “lies”. Participating in a discussion in Lok Sabha on ‘The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill 2026’, the Congress general secretary said the government needs to take concrete steps by taking all stakeholders along to put a new education system in place. Slamming the government for using force against the protesting students, Vadra said Modi and Home Minister Shah must answer as to who authorised the use of “pellet guns” and “AK-47s” on protesting students.Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.