Court Cancels Warrants in 2021 Case

On July 29, a Delhi court cancelled non-bailable warrants issued against Aishe Ghosh, national joint secretary of the Students' Federation of India (SFI). The warrants stemmed from a 2021 FIR alleging disobedience of a public servant's order, criminal trespass, and common intention. Ghosh's application stated that she could not appear at the previous hearing due to unavoidable circumstances; Judicial Magistrate Vijayshree Rathore stayed the warrants and directed her to appear in person at the next hearing, though a date was not immediately set.

The cancellation came a day after a Delhi Police team visited the Communist Party of India (Marxist) office to arrest Ghosh, leading to a confrontation before officers left without her. Union minister JP Nadda, speaking in the Rajya Sabha, defended the police action as “a very normal law and order situation,” adding that any student activist should expect such encounters. He drew a parallel with his own arrests during the Emergency, saying the opposition was unnecessarily sensationalising the incident.

SFI leaders, meanwhile, accused the police of witch-hunting and alleged the move was part of a wider crackdown on student leaders who participated in recent protests that, they claimed, contributed to the resignation of former education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Delhi Police insisted the visit was solely related to an old court order and had no connection to the recent youth protests.

Political Fallout and Allegations of Vendetta

Nadda's Law-and-Order Framing vs. SFI's Claims of Repression

Nadda's defence of the police action as a routine step in maintaining public order is aimed at normalising the state's posture toward student activism while pushing back against opposition criticism. By invoking his own arrests as a student during the Emergency, he sought to portray the current government as adhering to legal processes, contrasting it with a period often cited as democratic excess. The SFI's counter-narrative — that the arrest attempt was political vendetta for recent youth-led protests — fits a broader opposition claim of a shrinking space for dissent in India.

The immediate legal outcome is limited: a 2021 case on relatively minor charges prompted warrants for non-appearance, not new investigative findings. The court's cancellation may temporarily ease tensions, but Ghosh is still required to appear. While the police maintain the action was unrelated to recent protests, the timing and venue — the CPM office — gave the opposition symbolic material to galvanise its narrative of repression. The episode thus remains a flashpoint in the ongoing political duel over how the government treats dissent, with both sides using the incident to reinforce their positions.