SC can't be silent spectator: Plea against Shaheen Bagh protests

New Delhi: A petition was moved in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking to end the blockade and restore smooth traffic flow on Delhi's Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch, and also sought a direction to the Centre for laying down comprehensive guidelines relating to outright restrictions for holding protests that obstruct arterial roads and public places.

This is the third petition in the top court against the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh.

Terming the Shaheen Bagh protests as "illegal", the petitioner and BJP leader Nand Kishore Garg said the apex court cannot be a "silent spectator to such agitation and confrontational drama" obstructing common people as the protesters have blocked the entire vehicular and pedestrian movement on the road connecting the cities of Delhi and Noida.

The plea said, "Such illegal demonstration is being held at the cost of hardship of the common people of the locality, and common people are hopelessly handicapped for the enjoyment of their fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution."

Therefore, the petitioner has urged the top court to pass directions for laying down comprehensive and exhaustive guidelines arising out of recurring protests occurring on a regular interval in the country, at behest of organisations/groups/communities, which often leads to unsavoury situation like the obstruction of public places.

The petitioner claimed the state machinery has failed to discharge its duties as per the law. As a result, common people are approaching law enforcement authorities for the redressal of their grievance. "But the common people are not getting any kind of relief and reprieve in case their legal rights are crushed by the protesters on the ground that these protesters may not disturbed," contended the petition citing the Delhi High Court that has refused to intervene in the matter.

The petitioner sought a direction from the court to the Centre to remove the protesters from Shaheen Bagh near Kalindi Kunj, who are "illegally" protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 by blocking the common and public road connecting Delhi to Noida.

The petitioner also cited obstruction to access a prominent hospital in the vicinity of the protest site. "Thousands of patients are being denied accessibility to medical services. Hence, it is urgently required that the public places must not be allowed to be abused and misused for ulterior and malafide purposes such as staging protests against the Constitutional amendment in the heart of the capital city," said the petition.