“We as [future] lawyers have to stand with the student community in India”: From NALSAR to TISS, growing student anger is reshaping the CJI’s public calendar

“A CONVOCATION is meant to be a moment where the University’s own values, including a commitment to constitutional rights, access to justice, and reasoned engagement with grievances, are visibly reflected in the choices it makes,” write a group of graduating students at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, opposing the possibility of inviting Chief Justice of India (‘CJI’) Surya Kant as chief guest for the University’s upcoming convocation.

In the last three weeks, three different varsity convocations at which the CJI was slated to appear as the chief guest were either contested by students, declined by him, or abruptly postponed. The root of the controversy lies in the notorious “cockroach” remark made by the CJI. Although he later said that the remark had been quoted out of context, it had already gone viral and continues to trigger sustained public anger among students and young job-seekers. 

Matters intensified further when a mention regarding police brutality during the July 20 Chalo Sansad march came up before his bench, and the CJI reportedly refused to look at video evidence of the police action, saying, “We are not interested in videos… we don’t have time to watch.” He subsequently clarified that this response was because the counsel had not filed a formal petition but a one-page letter to the Secretary General of the Court. Even so, the possibility that the Court could take suo motu cognisance has kept the outrage over those remarks alive.

An unwelcome guest?

“We feel that receiving our degrees from a dignitary whose recent public conduct, as reported, appears dismissive of serious allegations of police brutality against protesting citizens sits uncomfortably with what we have been taught to value during our time at NALSAR,” wrote the students in their mail addressed to the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Registrar, and faculty.

This unease first surfaced publicly on July 23, when a group of graduating students at NALSAR wrote to the administration, opposing a proposal to invite CJI Surya Kant as chief guest for the University’s 23rd convocation. 

According to the students, it is a tradition for the incumbent CJI to attend NALSAR’s convocation; while the University had not formally announced the chief guest at the time, the students apprehended that he could be invited and wrote to the administration in advance, urging it not to extend the invitation without first consulting students. In their email, the students cited publicly available reports on the CJI’s handling of police brutality against the Jantar Mantar protesters, noting that “it is pertinent to note that these reports have come at a time when a separate letter petition has already been addressed to the Hon’ble CJI, seeking the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s suo motu intervention into the police atrocities of 20.07.2026, citing injuries to over 170 protesters, including women and children, and possible violations of the safeguards laid down in D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal.” They added that, as students of law, their concern was “narrower and more specific to us as a graduating batch.”

Speaking to The Leaflet, a student, who prefers anonymity, said, “We as [future] lawyers have to stand with the student community in India and demand accountability,” adding that concerns over the CJI’s approach to cases involving police brutality made his proposed participation as chief guest difficult for the students to reconcile.