Ashish Joshi filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court challenging the mass deployment of CAPF for protest duties. He questioned the legal basis for these extensions. "273 companies were extended until 31 October 2026," Joshi said. The petition seeks a clear protocol to ensure constitutional rights remain protected during protests.
Ashish Joshi has petitioned the Delhi High Court over large-scale CAPF deployment for protest duties. The case questions whether repeated extensions and coercive action meet constitutional safeguards.
Former civil servant Ashish Joshi has moved the Delhi High Court against the alleged large-scale deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) for protest-related public order duties in the national capital, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The public interest litigation seeks judicial scrutiny of the legal and administrative basis for the deployment and its repeated extensions. It also seeks a declaration that an order deploying CAPFs to assist the civil administration does not, by itself, authorise personnel to disperse a peaceful gathering, detain people merely for participating in a protest or use force.
The petition said every coercive action must independently meet the applicable legal and constitutional requirements of necessity, proportionality and accountability.
"Reports have indicated that 301 companies were initially approved. 273 companies were extended until 31 October 2026. And further extension of 270 companies until 16 November 2026," Joshi said in a post on social media platform X.
He said the PIL raises critical constitutional questions under Articles 14, 19 and 21 regarding the necessity, proportionality, duration and periodic review of such deployments, particularly in the context of peaceful democratic gatherings.
Joshi said he had filed the PIL before the Delhi High Court to seek scrutiny of the large-scale deployment and repeated extensions of CAPFs in Delhi for protest-related public order duties, PTI reported.
Filed through lawyers Ambuj Dixit and Amrish Ranjan Pandey, the petition seeks directions to the authorities to disclose details of requests made by the Delhi Police and the sanction and extension orders issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
It also seeks reconciled, force-wise and date-wise details of the companies approved for deployment, their sanctioned strength, the number of personnel mobilised to Delhi and those who reported for duty, as well as the personnel assigned to protest-related duties.
The petition has sought details of assessments of the deployment's operational impact on counter-insurgency operations, border security, election preparedness and disaster response. It has also sought the formulation of a written protocol governing substantial CAPF deployments for protest-related duties.
Joshi has further sought a direction that the CAPF deployment should not continue or be extended beyond November 16 unless there is a written and reasoned order based on a current assessment of its necessity and other safeguards.
Central Delhi has witnessed large protests by opposition parties, student groups, civil society members and the Cockroach Janta Party since June and July this year over several issues, including matters related to the functioning of the Election Commission.
The PIL, therefore, seeks disclosure of the basis and scale of the CAPF deployment, safeguards governing the use of force during peaceful protests, and restrictions on any extension beyond November 16 without a fresh, reasoned assessment.