Now Reading: HC asks Centre to decide on NIA probe into LPU violence in a week
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HC asks Centre to decide on NIA probe into LPU violence in a week
The Story in Brief
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday, 4 November directed the Central government to decide within a week whether the National Investigation Agency (NIA) should probe the September 26 violence at Lovely Professional University (LPU), after the Punjab Police added a cyber-terrorism charge under Section 66F of the IT Act to the case.
A bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor ordered the Punjab government to forward a report on the scheduled offence to the Centre within 72 hours, as required under Section 6 of the NIA Act. The court noted that once the Centre decides the offence is fit for NIA investigation, the state probe must stop and records be transferred. The matter will be heard next on November 17.
The directions came on a PIL by LPU student Ravi Raj seeking a CBI probe, arguing that the violence, sparked by an unverified Reddit post alleging a rape and a student suicide, requires independent investigation. The court last month had pulled up the police over investigation lapses.
Indian Opinion Analysis
LiveLaw and Bar and Bench both report the same Punjab and Haryana High Court order in nearly identical terms: the court directed the state to forward a report on the added cyber-terrorism charge to the Centre within 72 hours, and the Centre to decide on an NIA probe within a week. Neither outlet frames the development as a government win or failure, each presents it as a routine judicial step responding to a PIL. The one variation is that Bar and Bench also notes the petitioner’s argument about LPU founder Ashok Mittal’s recent party switch from AAP to BJP, a detail absent from LiveLaw’s account. Since both pieces are straight wire-style reporting on the same hearing, the uniform coverage confirms that the news is the procedural timeline itself: the Centre must decide by 11 November, and the court will review compliance on 17 November.
Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral
Sources (2): livelaw.in (neutral report), barandbench.com (neutral report)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Methodology and corrections.
