New Delhi ~ The Delhi High Court on Monday ruled that no law student in the country should be detained from sitting in examinations due to lack of minimum attendance.

The high court, which passed a slew of directions in relation to the mandatory attendance requirement in law colleges, asked the Bar Council of India (BCI) to modify the mandatory attendance norms.

Due to shortage of attendance, a student's promotion to the next semester class cannot be withheld, it said.

A bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Amit Sharma passed the order while disposing of a suo motu petition, initiated by the Supreme Court, in relation to the death of law student Sushant Rohilla by suicide in 2016 after allegedly being barred from sitting for the semester exams due to lack of requisite attendance.

“Having heard at length the submission of all stakeholders in this case over the course of the hearing and having considered the stark realities that have come to the surface, this court is strongly of the view that norms education in general and legal education in particular cannot be made so stringent so as to lead to mental trauma, let alone the death of a student,” the bench said while pronouncing the verdict.

Rohilla, a third-year law student at Amity, had hanged himself at his home here on August 10, 2016, after his college allegedly barred him from sitting for the semester exams due to lack of requisite attendance. He left behind a note, saying he was a failure and did not wish to live.

The present petition was initiated by the Supreme Court in September 2016 following the incident but was transferred to the High Court in March 2017.

While pronouncing the judgement, the high court said the Bar Council of India (BCI) should undertake a stakeholder consultation, including student bodies, parents and teachers, for this purpose in an expeditious manner in order to safeguard the life and mental health of students, keeping in mind the impact detention or non-appearance in exams due to mandatory attendance requirements can have on students.

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