The students had staged a demonstration to raise their demands when the alleged molestation had taken place. One such photograph had also appeared in one of the English dailies. The High Court had taken a suo moto notice of the photograph and a petition was also filed by World Human Rights Protection Council, Sector 10 A, Chandigarh.

Advocate Ranjan Lakhanpal, chairman of the NGO, had demanded directions for registration of case against the erring officials and demanded a CBI inquiry into the case. The matter was enquired into and the photograph was sent for testing to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL). In its report, the CFSL had given the finding that “there are indications of image alteration on the photograph. The image of the red-blue turban and facial image of the female above it are indicated to have been grafted to the disputed photograph, producing an illusion so as the image of the back of arm (dorsal aspect) looked objectionable.”

Moreover, in the inquiry report, the students and parents had stated that it was more a case of manhandling than molestation. Thus, owing to the CFSL report and the inquiry report, the Bench disposed of the petition.