On Monday, the Gujarat High Court declined to initiate suo motu proceedings regarding the assault on foreign national students at Gujarat University. The students were attacked while performing their prayers (Namaz) in their hostel on Saturday night.

The request made by advocate KR Koshti for the division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee to take suo motu cognizance of the incident was turned down.

The bench emphasized that the High Court cannot assume the role of the police.

"Not everything incident in this city can be a PIL matter. Everything happening in this city cannot be considered under PIL jurisdiction. Please do not make us (judges) inspectors or investigating officers. We have our Police force to look into the issue. We are a court and not an investigation agency," the Chief Justice observed.  

However, Koshti persisted, urging the Court to intervene, citing the inadequate investigation by the police. He pointed out that the police had not invoked several crucial and serious provisions in its First Information Report (FIR).

Furthermore, Koshti reiterated his plea to the bench, emphasizing that the constitutional court holds jurisdiction over matters of public significance.

On March 16, approximately 20 individuals, chanting slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram,' forcibly entered the boys' hostel of Gujarat University. They allegedly obstructed Muslim students from African nations, Afghanistan, and other countries from performing Namaaz within the hostel premises.

Initially, there was a verbal dispute between some of the assailants and the foreign students. However, the situation escalated into violence as a mob of around 20 individuals entered the campus. They pursued the foreign students to their rooms, damaging their belongings such as bikes and laptops in the process. At least five students sustained injuries during the incident, with two of them suffering severe injuries requiring hospitalization.

Following the incident, the Gujarat Police arrested two individuals.