THE PUNJAB STUDENTS’ ENQUIRY COMMITTEE

THE recent announcement of the appointment of a Committee consisting of the Vice-Chancellor, the Director of Public Instruction and Dr. J.C.R. Ewing, to examine individual cases of students punished under the Martial Law administration, if brought forward by Principals of Colleges, is, as we have pointed out, most disappointing. The Press communique issued by the Local Government states that no general re-investigation of cases is contemplated. It has been pointed out repeatedly in these columns and elsewhere that the students were dealt with summarily and that the punishments in many cases were disproportionately severe. It is the general principle followed by the authorities with regard to the punishment of students, to which we have objected, apart from the hardship involved in individual cases. The Government communique ignores this important aspect. What we and others have urged on the attention of the Government is the necessity for a dispassionate examination of all the cases of students punished summarily at a time when according to the Right Hon’ble Lord Sinha actions were “necessarily prompt and probably hasty.”