Delhi Police’s decision to denotify Jantar Mantar as a protest site was challenged in the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court on Wednesday. The October 12 notification moved protests to Burari, Ramlila, and CBD grounds. Critics said the move was subterfuge and argued that these new venues are paid grounds.
Delhi Police's decision to denotify Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site was on Wednesday challenged before the Supreme Court as well as the Delhi High Court.
Both pleas challenge the October 12 notification, through which the Delhi Police denotified Jantar Mantar and designated three alternative protest sites - Burari Ground, Ramlila Ground and CBD Ground.
Before the Delhi High Court, Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Uday Bhanu Chib filed an application challenging the notification in an existing petition against the police's refusal to allow the IYC to protest at Jantar Mantar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
In his original petition, Chib had challenged the broader practice of denying permission to protest at designated sites, arguing that such restrictions were disproportionate and that the police should exercise their powers narrowly, subject to reasonable restrictions.
When the petition came up for hearing on Tuesday, the Delhi Police argued that it had become infructuous since Jantar Mantar was no longer a designated protest site.
Chib's counsel, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, termed the move "subterfuge", pointing out that the denotification had come hours after the police sought a deferment of the hearing on October 12.
On October 13, the Delhi Police had told HC that it had denotified Jantar Mantar and identified alternative protest sites in compliance with the Supreme Court's October 9 order. The SC had recorded that "suitable alternative sites" for protests "needed to be identified and designated".
However, the October 12 notification cited recommendations made by a committee under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs as the basis for the change in venues, without referring to any Supreme Court order.
Meanwhile, advocate Swaty Singh Malik filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking to set aside the October 12 notification.
One of the grounds raised in her petition is that the alternative venues are paid grounds, unlike Jantar Mantar. The plea also argues that denotifying Jantar Mantar goes against the SC's 2018 judgment in the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan case, which upheld the right to hold protests at the site subject to regulation.