SC refuses relief to DU student who missed classes due to pregnancy
New Delhi, May 23: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to grant interim relief to a Delhi University law student who was detained in Semester IV for lecture shortage owing to her pregnancy.
A bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice Navin Sinha denied her plea to allow her to write her exams, one of which was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
The bench, however, granted liberty to the petitioner to seek remedy from the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court, where an appeal is already pending.
On Monday, the Delhi High Court refused to grant interim relief to second-year student Ankita Meena to sit in the examinations, saying it needed to go into the details of the matter first.
Meena's counsels Ashish Virmani and Himanshu Dhuper then approached the apex court on Tuesday and sought urgent hearing of the case urging that the student be allowed to take the ongoing exams.
As the DU counsel was not present before the court during the hearing of the case in the morning, the apex court bench sought the presence of University's counsel.
It, however, noted that by the time the court hears the DU's counsel arguments, the exam would have been over.
"How can we pass an order without hearing the other side? The exam is at 2 p.m. and by the time we hear the other side what can be done," the bench asked.
The University counsel appeared before the bench at 1 p.m. and raised objections to allowing the student to appear for her exam.
Advocate Mohinder J.S. Rupal, appearing for DU, said the specific laws applicable to the Faculty of Law as well as rules laid down by Bar Council of India require a minimum attendance of 70 per cent.
Pointing out that the petitioner had not applied for maternity leave, the court said: "It's very incongruous. We are not very comfortable with the idea that the Supreme Court passes an order at 1 p.m. and the student sits for the exam at 2 p.m. This is a hard case and the law is not in your favour."
A single Judge of the High Court last week dismissed her plea for relaxing the attendance norm. On Monday, she approached a Division Bench of the High Court to challenge this order but could not get relief to sit in the examinations.
Her counsel raised fundamental questions relating to equality before law and the fundamental right of a woman to procreate.
As per the petition, Meena is a regular student studying in law courses Semester IV. She had 86 per cent attendance in Semester III. During Semester IV, she delivered a baby boy on February 2. On that account, she could not attend part of the Semester IV classes, the petitioner averred.
On May 11, the DU released a revised list of detainees, who did not have 70 per cent attendance which included Meena's name.
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Bengaluru: Man held for illegal sale of IPL match tickets
Bengaluru (PTI): A 49-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly illegally selling IPL match tickets at inflated prices outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here, police said on Friday.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) made the arrest following a tip-off during the April 15 match between RCB and LSG that tickets were being sold illegally at higher rates, they said.
Police identified the accused as Chandrashekar P, a Bengaluru resident who was working with a catering service at the stadium.
During questioning, it was found that he was reselling match tickets in black.
According to police, investigations showed that for the April 15 match, 100 tickets were bought using the names of two companies and then sold at higher prices.
In a similar case during the March 28 RCB vs CSK match, 81 tickets worth Rs 6.6 lakh were purchased under one company's name and resold at inflated rates.
Police said that during the 2026 IPL season, the accused bought 181 tickets worth Rs 17.52 lakh through a portal and sold them illegally.
The accused has been taken into custody, and further investigation is underway to identify others involved in the racket, they added.
