Updated: October 7, 2020 5:10:28 pm
The Shaheen Bagh sit-in was authorized by the police in March.
Dismissing a handful of petitions related to the Shaheen Bagh sit-in, the Supreme Court said Wednesday that public places cannot be occupied indefinitely and protests should be allowed only in designated areas.
The high court observed that it is the duty of the administration to remove these roadblocks. Unfortunately, there is no action on the part of the administration and therefore the intervention of the court in the matter, he said.
A bench made up of judges SK Kaul, Krishna Murari and Hrishikesh Roy said: “Public places cannot be occupied indefinitely. Dissent and democracy go hand in hand, but protests must take place in the designated area … This type of occupation of public places for protests is not acceptable.
On September 21, the court reserved its verdict after observing that the right to protest must be balanced with the people’s right to use the public highway. Attorney General Tushar Mehta said that while the right to protest is a fundamental right, it is subject to reasonable restrictions.
On March 23, Delhi police approved Shaheen Bagh’s sit-in protest against the citizenship law after restrictions were placed on the assembly and movement of people in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The protest had lasted more than 100 days. It began on December 15 in southeast Delhi, with at least 300 women at the forefront. It sparked many similar demonstrations across the country. The protest saw several elderly women participate daily, some in their 80s.
In January, a 25-year-old man fired into the air 50 meters from the stage, but that didn’t make the protesters leave either. Unidentified people also threw gasoline bombs at the protest site as the country observed the curfew in Janata. Nobody was hurt in the incident. The same month, the Supreme Court had appointed interlocutors to hold talks with the protesters and report on the situation on the ground.
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