“Terrorising” teachers is an “unthinkable” and “shocking” act, says the Delhi High Court after knowing the incident that took place at Delhi University where a lady professor was threatened by a Delhi University law student as he was caught cheating by the teacher during exams.
A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Najmi Waziri expressing their anger on the incident said it was an “anathema” to call such institutions schools or refer to such persons as students.
“Terrorising teachers is unthinkable. Shocking. It is an anathema to call them schools or such students as students,” stated the bench.
The incident was brought before the Delhi High Court by senior advocate N Hariharan, appointed by the bench as an amicus curiae in a matter concerning the standards of legal education in India.
The amicus was asked by the court to file a plea seeking contempt action against the student. The main petition by S N Singh, an advocate and a former DU law professor, was listed for further hearing on October 26.
It made the strong remarks after it was told that former DUSU President Satender Awana, pursuing LLB from the Faculty of Law in Delhi University had threatened a lady professor who had allegedly caught him cheating during the semester exams in May-June this year.
The student had also allegedly tried to influence the members of the unfair means committee of the varsity which was looking into the alleged incident.
The Delhi High Court also pulled up the university for not taking action against the student concerning the incident.
During the hearing, Rahul Mehra, the standing counsel for Delhi Police, also informed the court that the agency was kept informed by the lady professor regarding the alleged threat by the student.
The police was directed by the bench to ensure complete safety to the professor and told it not to “plead helplessness”.
The court has already ordered protection for the law faculty’s dean, Ved Kumari, in another matter pertaining to threats to her by some students, allegedly including Mr Awana, in relation with shortage of attendance for giving the LLB semester exams.
