V. KAMESWAR RAO, J.

1. The present petition under Article 215 of the Constitution of India read with Sections 2(B) and Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 has been filed by the petitioner Jawaharlal Nehru University inter alia seeking action against the respondents for disobedience of order dated August 9, 2017 with a further direction to them not to assemble, protest, dharna, march, blockade, use of public address system within 100 meters of the Administrative Block and not to stop ingress and egress of the officials to the Administrative Block. The relevant paras 5 to 9 of order dated August 9, 2017 read as under:

“5. Considering the present situation, it is directed that no protest of any sort shall be undertaken by the students within 100 meters radius of the Administrative Block. The University authorities shall earmark an area where the students can congregate freely to protest.

6. Ms Monika Arora, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has drawn the attention of this Court to a map of the university campus (Annexure P-5) which indicates that on the left hand top of the site, there is an open area, which this Court is informed is known as Sabarmati Lawns. The said area would be open for the students to congregate without any unwarranted interference from the authorities. As long as the protest or congregation is peaceful, there will be no occasion for the authorities to invite the police authorities on the campus.

7. In order to ensure that the above directions are carried out, the petitioner is permitted to put CCTV cameras in the front of the Administrative Block, which shall have the clear view of the parking in front as well as Administrative Block. CCTVs may also be put on the main gates of the campus. However, at this stage, the petitioner would avoid putting CCTV cameras in other areas which may be considered by the students as an intrusion on their privacy and free movement as that may vitiate the environment of the University.

8. Needless to state that in the event, the aforesaid orders are not complied with, the petitioner would be at liberty to request the police authorities for assistance to maintain law and order in the campus. The police authorities shall act only on the evidence of obstruction to ingress/egress to the Administrative Building, being provided by the Authorities, which may be in the form of CCTV footage.

9. No further orders are required to be passed in these proceedings at this stage. The petition and the pending applications are, accordingly, disposed of with liberty to the parties to apply in the event any further orders are required.”

2. The facts/sequence of events as alleged by the petitioner University in support of this petition are with regard to protests made/undertaken by the respondents on different dates. The relevant averments alleging the violation/disobedience of order dated August 9, 2017 are on the basis of the following events:

A. Protest on 04/01/2018

I. The respondents on January 04, 2018 put out a pamphlet calling for a mass presence at the Administrative block to protest against the compulsory attendance rule.

II. The aforementioned call for gathering by the respondents was made despite the notice dated January 02, 2018 and January 03, 2018 issued by the Petitioner to the respondents which stated that JNUSU shall not assemble en mass at the Administrative Block in terms of order of this Court dated August 09, 2017.

III. The Chief Proctor went to speak to the students and to dissuade them from violating this Court’s order against holding any kind of protest from within 100 meters of Administrative Building. However, the respondents persisted with defying the said Court Order on January 04, 2018. Security Report was submitted on the protest that had taken place on January 04, 2018 by the Chief Security Officer.

B. Protest on 10/02/2018

Thereafter, on Feb