The Punjab and Haryana High Court granted permission to a student, booked for murder, to appear for his LLM examination. The Court emphasized that denying the student this opportunity would result in irreparable loss and jeopardize his future career prospects.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently mandated that provisions be made for a final-year LLM student, currently incarcerated on murder charges, to sit for his second-semester exams.
Justice Vikas Bahl highlighted that preventing the petitioner from taking his exams would hinder the completion of his course, thereby jeopardizing his career.
The Court stated,
“If the petitioner is not allowed to sit for the exams, it will cause him irreparable harm as he will not be able to complete his LLM (Corporate Laws), thereby jeopardizing his future. Therefore, the present petition is allowed,”
Additionally, the Court acknowledged that the petitioner is a distinguished student, having graduated with an LLB degree and a CGPA of 8.01 out of 10, and having completed 25 online courses from various international universities.
The petitioner approached the High Court to challenge a lower court’s decision that denied him permission to appear for his examination. The lower court’s refusal based on the petitioner’s inability to present an ‘admit card’ from his university, which would verify his eligibility to take the exams.
In the High Court, the petitioner contended that he was wrongfully implicated in a murder case and requested permission to attend his LLM exams, arguing that his right to life encompassed his right to education.
The university, however, clarified that it does not issue a separate admit card for exams. Instead, students can take exams by showing their student ID card, which the petitioner already possessed.
The petitioner’s counsel also mentioned that an application submitted to the jail authorities for permission to take the exam. However, the district jail superintendent denied this request, citing the jail manual’s stipulations that only allow for educational activities within the jail. The superintendent stated that the court’s directive necessary to allow the petitioner to attend the exam outside the jail.
The State argued that since the petitioner charged with murder, he could take the exam while in police custody if permission granted. They added that the petitioner should cover the costs of making the necessary arrangements for taking the exam in custody.
Ultimately, the Court granted the petitioner permission to take his exams at the university. It also ordered the State to deploy sufficient police personnel to ensure the petitioner’s security during the transit to and from the exam hall.
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To this end, the Court issued the following directives:
- The petitioner must deposit an amount of Rs. 75,000, as instructed by the State.
- The State is required to assign a sufficient number of police officers to escort the petitioner from jail to the examination center on the scheduled exam days.
- Following each exam, the designated police officers will escort the petitioner back to jail.
- The university instructed to allow the petitioner to take the four exams upon presenting his identity card.
- The university must ensure that the accompanying police officers are positioned in a location where they can keep the petitioner in their sight throughout the examination. These officers instructed to maintain a strict watch over the petitioner to prevent any escape attempts.
Advocate Kanwalvir Singh Kang represented the petitioner.
Senior Deputy Attorney General of Punjab NS Diwana represented the State, and Advocate Deepak Singh Saini represented the university.
Read Order: [Prabal Titus V. State of Punjab and Others].