Punishing students for asking questions is unconstitutional: SC judge

Supreme Court judge Ujjal Bhuyan on Sunday said that students expressing a different point of view or asking questions cannot be threatened with punitive action, as such an approach is unconstitutional and a misuse of power.

Justice Bhuyan said a university should be a place where "established positions" can be "examined and questioned" and disagreements are not met with hostility.

A university should be where the habit of thinking freely begins, and a student does not hesitate to ask difficult questions, the top court judge asserted, while underscoring that the right to question was not an act of defiance, and that "an intolerant mind" is at odds with the spirit of the Indian Constitution.

The top court judge was speaking at the 13th convocation ceremony for the postgraduate students of National Law University, Delhi.

"When students express a different point of view, when students ask questions, they cannot be threatened with punitive action.

That is unconstitutional.

That is a ..