MP scraps controversial rule to bar students named in FIRs from college admission

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh will drop a controversial rule that debars students from higher educational institutions if a criminal case is registered against them, higher education minister Mohan Yadav said on Friday. The provision was notified by the state’s higher education department on July 15 and was to be implemented by government and private institutions. It was circulated to colleges earlier this week.

The minister said it was “a wrong rule”.

“How can we stop any person from getting educated just on the basis of criminal cases against him. The court decides whether the charges against students are true or not… We can’t bar their admission only after an FIR and charge-sheet,” Mohan Yadav said.

To be sure, governments have for years rejected suggestions that politicians with criminal antecedents should not be allowed to become lawmakers. Existing election rules framed by the Election Commission on orders of the Supreme Court only require them to declare criminal cases against them.

Yadav said there were many occasions when student leaders are booked under different cases for “staging protest on issues of public interest and this rule will do injustice with these students”.

HT first reported this controversial rule after the state’s higher education department sent the notification to MP colleges.

“I came to know about this rule from different sources. ABVP (RSS-backed Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad) leaders also brought this to my notice that this will be injustice with many students, who are facing ‘political’ cases,” the minister said, stressing that he has issued instructions to remove this controversial provision.

ABVP’s state secretary, Praveen Sharma, told HT earlier that in his opinion, “This (rule) will definitely end student politics and is against one’s right to education”.

The new provisions also said that students found guilty of misbehaving with faculty, staff or other students and vandalising college property would not get admission to the next academic session. “If there is no improvement in his/her behaviour, the principal is not authorised to give admission to such student,” reads the notification.

This provision will stay intact. Yadav said the decision on letting such students continue will be decided by a disciplinary committee.

Welcoming the minister’s decision, Congress MLA Kunal Chaudhary also took a swipe. “The state government planned to spoil the future of students of different ideologies but they realised that RSS’ student wing ABVP leaders will also get debarred in large numbers. We are happy they realised their mistake very soon and removed the rule.”