Students cannot be punished for dissent, questioning: SC judge Ujjal Bhuyan

New Delhi: Supreme Court judge Ujjal Bhuyan on Sunday said that punishing students for dissent is wholly unconstitutional.

Speaking at the 13th convocation ceremony for postgraduate students of National Law University, Delhi, the judge stated that the right to question is not an act of defiance; rather, dissent is essential to democracy, and a free society must make space for it.

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Justice Bhuyan underlined that the right to question is an essential part of citizenship, liberty and constitutional responsibility. He said that students who express a different point of view or ask questions cannot be threatened with punitive action and termed such an approach unconstitutional and a misuse of power.

The judge said universities must nurture a culture where different ideas can be examined and disagreements are addressed through reason, not hostility. Justice Bhuyan said an "intolerant mind" runs contrary to the spirit of the Constitution. He added India, being the land of Buddha and Gandhi, has no place for an intolerant mind, which he dubbed a form of violence.

"A democratic society cannot be built on the edifice that everyone will think alike. It is built on the understanding that differences will exist and that those differences must be accommodated within the broader constitutional framework," he said.

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He said that tolerance is "not merely a matter of personal courtesy. It is a constitutional value. A democracy becomes meaningful not when everyone speaks the same language of thought, but when different voices can coexist, be heard and be treated with dignity".

He added that a university is "a place where individuals encounter ideas that may be different from their own, where established positions can be examined and questioned, and where disagreements can take place through reason rather than hostility".

Justice Bhuyan said: "A university, in my view, should be one of the first places where the habit of thinking freely begins." Universities, he added, should be spaces where ideas are not accepted merely because they are familiar and students do not hesitate to ask difficult questions simply because the answers may be uncomfortable.