LPU violence: High Court gives Punjab 72 hours to send report to Centre, NIA probe under consideration
PTC Web Desk: A month after violent protests at Lovely Professional University (LPU) campus, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has told the Punjab Government to send its report to the Centre within 72 hours. The Centre will now decide whether the offence registered by the Punjab Police under the Information Technology (IT) Act should be investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The direction came after the Punjab Police, during its ongoing investigation, found material that prima facie points to Section 66F of the IT Act. This section deals with cyberterrorism. Since it is listed as a scheduled offence under the NIA Act, 2008, the court said the legal procedure for referring such a case to the Centre has to be followed.
What the court said
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor took note of the police’s second status report.
Senior advocate Gaurav Chopra, appearing for petitioner Ravi Raj, told the court that Section 66F has been added to the NIA Act through an amendment.
The Bench referred to Section 6 of the Act. Once the state government receives a report of a scheduled offence, it must forward it to the Centre as soon as possible. If the Centre hands the case to the NIA, the state has to stop its own investigation and give all documents to the Centre.
The court observed that the Punjab Government’s affidavit did not appear to take the provisions of the 2008 Act into account. It therefore gave the state a firm direction to send the report within 72 hours. The Centre has been asked to take a decision within a week of receiving it.
Next hearing on November 17
The case will be heard next on November 17. The court said that, given how sensitive the issue is, the investigating agencies must act with full seriousness and speed.
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- PTC NEWS
