As High Court Asks Police To Deal With Shaheen Bagh, What Space Is Left For Peaceful Protests?
The court passed the order while disposing of a PIL filed by advocate and social activist Amit Sahni seeking a direction to the Delhi Police Commissioner to lift restrictions on Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh Stretch and Okhla underpass, which were closed on December 15, 2019 for ongoing protests against CAA and National Register of Citizen (NRC).
The Sarita Vihar-Kalindi Kunj road in South East Delhi has come to a standstill over the past one month as numerous protesters, led by women, have been staging peaceful demonstrations at Shaheen Bagh to voice their objection to the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
The road that is the key link between the satellite city of Noida and the national capital has been closed for the general public and traffic movements have been stopped along it.
The Delhi High Court has now directed the city police to look into traffic restrictions on this stretch, which has been closed for nearly a month due to protests while keeping in mind the larger public interest.
A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar asked the police to look into the issue while also keeping in mind maintenance of law and order.
The court passed the order while disposing of a PIL filed by advocate and social activist Amit Sahni seeking a direction to the Delhi Police Commissioner to lift restrictions on Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh Stretch and Okhla underpass, which were closed on December 15, 2019 for ongoing protests against CAA and National Register of Citizen (NRC).
It was a temporary measure but has been extended from time to time.
The Kalindi Kunj stretch is vital as it connects Delhi, Faridabad (Haryana) and Noida (Uttar Pradesh) and commuters are forced to take the Delhi-Noida-Delhi (DND) Expressway and Ashram, which is causing hours of traffic jams and wastage of time and fuel, the PIL had said.
Reach Shaheen Bagh asap..the masjid has announced for it due to the high court order to remove protest site. Spread in other groups. #IndiaAgainstCAA_NRC #IndiaHatesModi
¡ª Sarah Rifai (@sarahrifai95) January 14, 2020
The #TopNews At This Hour In 90 Seconds-
¡ª GoNewsIndia (@GoNews_India) January 14, 2020
HC asks Police to look into the opening of Kalindi-Shaheen Bagh road; Kerala govt challenges CAA in Supreme Court; Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella voices concern on CAA and more... pic.twitter.com/FuDWa3YGq0
Information from #ShaheenBagh
¡ª Sanket ????? (@sanket) January 14, 2020
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¡ª Manak Gupta (@manakgupta) January 14, 2020
Over to you @DelhiPolice #ShaheenBagh @PMishra_Journo
Shaheen bagh ki women's ko salam#ShaheenBaghProtests #ShaheenBaghProtest https://t.co/jDkjjpDljg
¡ª Dr azhar baig (@azher009) January 14, 2020
Even as the order has come to the Delhi Police from the court, it is worth noting that the Shaheen Bagh has emerged as the strongest show of resistance against the controversial legislation. Thousands of people throng the venue every evening as protests have continued relentlessly over the past one month.
There is little denying that there are obvious repercussions on the movement of vehicles along the road but the citizens also enjoy the right to protest peacefully in a democracy.
Police and RAF has arrived near #ShaheenBaghProtests
¡ª Umair Khan (@Khan_umair_) January 14, 2020
Shops being shut and public going towards the protest site
Reporters and lawyers nearby , come to #ShaheenBagh ASAP@ndtv @atti_cus @mishikasingh @IndiasMuslims @dhruv_rathee @bak_bilal @SaketGokhale @ShabnamHashmi
On this Sunday, a ¡°maha-path¡± was organised at Shaheen Bagh where thousands of people gathered to read out major religious texts of Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Christianity in a show of unity and fraternity among the communities.
The Maha-Path begins with the national anthem!
¡ª Shaheenbaghofficial (@Shaheenbaghoff1) January 12, 2020
Join us in sending a loud and clear message to the divisive forces.@ndtv @TheQuint@thewire_in@scroll_in @ThePrintIndia@washingtonpost@the_hindu@Telegraph@AlJazeera#ShaheenBaghProtests #mahapath pic.twitter.com/WxAroy8SBI
Notably, the protesters at Shaheen Bagh have maintained that their ¡°peaceful demonstrations¡± are founded on the core values of the Indian Constitution, foregrounding the deep-rooted principles of secularism, fraternity, unity and equality. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, according to its critics, violates all of these foundational values.
It should also be noted that the Delhi Police has clamped down on protesters with utmost brutality and television channels have repeatedly played out live footage confirming the same. Peaceful demonstrators have also been lathi-charged and detained on several occasions.
