Why Indian law students don't want top judge at their graduation ceremony

Indian media reports said when a lawyer raised the matter before Kant on 22 July, the chief justice said, "don't waste our time" and when he was asked to watch videos of police excesses, he said "we don't have time". The statement drew a backlash from opposition parties, senior lawyers and activists - and the Nalsar students' email came a day later."We feel that receiving our degrees from a dignitary who appears dismissive of serious allegations of police brutality against protesting citizens sits uncomfortably with what we have been taught to value during our time at Nalsar," the students wrote. "We would, therefore, request the university to strongly reconsider the choice of chief guest for this convocation." Kant later clarified that he had not refused to hear the petition and only asked for it to be filed in a proper manner. Since then, the Supreme Court has begun hearing cases involving allegations of violence and apprehensions that police could use face-recognition technology to harass protesters.But the anger against the chief justice has refused to die down - it, in fact, gathered steam last Thursday after the India" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="187781" data-entity-type="organization">Bar Council of India chairman, Manan Kumar Mishra, threatened to bar Nalsar's graduating students from enrolment."No student who graduated from Nalsar will be enrolled until further orders from India" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="187781" data-entity-type="organization">Bar Council of India," he announced. Mishra also asked the university to submit a report on students who were behind the campaign to not invite the CJI.Getty ImagesCJP founder Abhijeet Dipke launched the online platform because he was "a bit disappointed and baffled" by the comments of chief justiceThe backlash against Mishra, who's an MP from the governing Bharatiya Janata Party, was swift and widespread, including from Chief Justice Kant who said the students had a right to protest and that the Bar Council had no business getting involved in what was "a dialogue between law students and me".