Establish police beat house on National Law University campus for students’ safety: Orissa HC directs state police

Institutions of higher learning must remain spaces of safety, dignity, and intellectual freedom. Any trend of lawlessness, vigilantism, or disorder in and around the campus environment not only jeopardises students’ welfare but also undermines the institutional ethos, the Orissa High Court observed while directing the state police to establish a Police Beat House within the campus of National Law University Odisha with provision for 24×7 deployment of police personnel.

A Single Bench of Justice Sanjeeb Kumar Panigrahi passed this order while hearing litigation on the abduction of two law university students by some outsiders.

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There have been recurring and disturbing incidents reported in and around the campus of National Law University Odisha, Cuttack. Such occurrences, particularly involving allegations of intimidation, misconduct, or unlawful interference with students, cast an unwarranted shadow over an institution of national importance entrusted with imparting legal education and upholding constitutional values, Justice Panigrahi noted.

A Police Beat House shall be established within the campus of National Law University Odisha, with provision for 24×7 deployment of police personnel. The university authorities shall extend necessary infrastructural and logistical support for the functioning of the same, the order stated.

The jurisdictional police shall take stringent and continuous action to prevent the supply and circulation of alcohol, narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, and other intoxicants to students, strictly in accordance with the provisions of the applicable penal and special statutes.

The police authorities shall ensure that no anti-social elements congregate in and around the university campus. The university may regulate student movement during late hours in accordance with its Hostel and Campus Regulations, including requiring prior permission from the hostel authorities for movement beyond prescribed hours, subject to reasonable exceptions, Justice Panigrahi further stated in the order.

It is expected that the concerned authorities, including the university administration and the local law enforcement agencies, shall remain vigilant and take appropriate preventive and remedial measures to ensure that such incidents do not recur, and that the campus atmosphere remains secure and conducive to academic pursuits. This court is constrained, in the larger interest of the student community, to issue certain guidelines so as to ensure safety, discipline, and maintenance of a congenial academic atmosphere in and around the campus of National Law University Odisha, the order added.