Delhi High Court says DU not ‘riff-raff’ haven; can’t be ‘last refuge for scoundrels’

The Delhi University is not a haven for “riff-raff” and cannot be the “last refuge for scoundrels”, but a place for free thinkers who want to learn, an anguished bench of the Delhi High Court said today.

While referring to last year’s incidents when Law Faculty’s Dean and professors were allegedly assaulted by some students, a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Najmi Waziri said the manner in which people were conducting themselves in the varsity, “all political activity there should cease”.

“This is the angst we feel. There is a palpable need to secure the campus,” the court said and added that the Delhi University (DU) “cannot be the last refuge for scoundrels”.

“Unruly behaviour with the Dean and teaching faculty is completely unacceptable. We won’t condone it,” the court said and added “there is no place for all of this in the campus or the varsity. We cannot have this.”

“The university is not a haven for all kinds of riff- raff. We won’t permit it (DU) to degenerate into that,” it said.

The bench also tore into the Delhi Police for not lodging an FIR till June 23 and waiting for a fact-finding report of the Law Faculty regarding the incidents of …read more