Kerala HC stays single judge’s order to readmit students accused in Sidharthan death case

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday stayed a single judge’s directive to readmit the students who are accused in a case relating to the death of Sidharthan J.S. of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in Wayanad and allow them to study on the Mannuthy college campus.

The Bench passed the order when an appeal filed by Sheeba M.R., mother of Sidharthan, against the single judge’s order came up for hearing. The single judge had quashed the interim and final reports of the anti-ragging squad debarring the students after ordering a fresh inquiry and permitting them to continue their studies on the Mannuthy college campus, subject to the outcome of the inquiry. The single judge’s order came on petitions filed by the students.

She alleged that the Syndicate of the university, Vice-Chancellor, and other officers of the college had colluded with the students who had committed the crime and facilitated their re-entry. The single judge had failed to notice that natural justice was not a one-way traffic which could be extended to perpetuate an illegality. The single judge had given mercy to these students which they had denied to the petitioner’s son. Her son was mercilessly murdered by the students, she said. The single judge also had gone beyond what the students had sought for in their petitions.