Overview
- Tamil Nadu’s school education minister said on Sunday that the state will withdraw all cases registered against students who protested the NEET examination, citing a directive from Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay.
- Gujarat’s home department sent a July 31 letter to the state DGP instructing police to withdraw protest-related FIRs and to stop any adverse legal action against participants in the NEET demonstrations.
- The moves follow the Supreme Court’s July 28 interim guidance that barred coercive action against student protesters without serious criminal antecedents and ordered preservation of CCTV, drone and bodycam evidence.
- Officials in both states have not published counts, case lists or formal procedures for withdrawal, leaving uncertainty about timelines and whether offences judged ‘grave’ will be excluded.
- The withdrawals close a recent chapter in a nationwide student agitation that began at Jantar Mantar on June 20 and led to the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on July 25, and they may spare many students from ongoing criminal proceedings.