Students from the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research in Hyderabad have asked the university to reconsider Chief Justice Surya Kant as the chief guest for their convocation, citing his response to a petition challenging police action against protesters in Delhi, Bar and Bench reported.

A representation to this effect to the university authorities was first submitted on July 23 by 70 students from the outgoing batch of the institute, The Indian Express reported. In the next two days, about 380 more students from batches that will graduate over the next five years supported the demand to reconsider inviting Kant.

While NALSAR has yet to announce the chief guest for the event, the incumbent chief justice has been delivering the convocation address at the university for the past several years.

The students’ primary objection was against Kant’s remarks when a bench headed by him refused to urgently hear a petition challenging the police action against protesters at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on July 20, Bar and Bench reported.

The plea had come up for urgent hearing on July 22. However, Kant had reportedly told the petitioners: “Don’t waste our time and don’t waste your time.”

When the lawyer for the petitioners said that he could present video evidence of the police excesses, the chief justice had said the bench was “not interested” in watching them. “We don’t have time to watch,” Kant had then said.

The NALSAR students, in their letter to the university authorities, referred to these remarks in their representation. They said it did not sit right to receive their degrees from a dignitary whose recent public conduct appeared dismissive of serious allegations of police brutality against protesting citizens.

The students added that the convocation should reflect the university’s values, including “a commitment to constitutional rights, access to justice, and reasoned engagement with grievances”, Bar and Bench reported.

The police action came during protests against the alleged mismanagement of several competitive examinations. The agitation, which culminated in the resignation of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dharmendra Pradhan as the Union education minister, was led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign.

The Cockroach Janta Party was launched in response to reports of remarks by Kant comparing some unemployed youngsters to “cockroaches”. The chief justice had claimed that he had been misquoted by sections of the media and that it was baseless to say that he criticised young people in general.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

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