The Supreme Court in the case of Ankita Kailash Khandelwal and Ors. v. State of Maharashtra & Ors. (Cr. Appeal No.- 660-662 of 2020)opined to allow the students to go back to their course of study else the pendency of prosecution against them will add further penalty in the form of prejudicing their career. Any such adverse impact will negate their rights under Article 21 of the constitution. The Appellants were allowed to go back to their college and the hospitals to pursue their studies, subject to certain conditions.

In the present matter, the appellants are the medical students who were pursuing their Post-Graduation degree in Gynecology and Obstetrics at a college in Mumbai. The Appellants have been charged under Section 306 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, under the provisions of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities ) Act, 1989, and also under Section 4 of the Maharashtra Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1999. The Appellants were granted subject to certain conditions, one of them being their suspension from pursuing their course of study till further orders. Hence, this petition. 

It was held by Hon’ble Justice Uday Umesh Lalit that the Suspension Order was not based on the Provisions of the 1999 Act. Since the order of suspension was passed purely as a result of registrations of Crime and did not have any roots in statutory powers conferred under Section 6 of the 1999 Act, the court granted redressal to the Applicants.

Read Judgment here [pdf]