The Supreme Court delivered its verdict on a batch of petitions against the anti-CAA protests that swept Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh earlier this year. Supreme Court has clearly stated that public places are not meant for protests and Delhi Police was completely failed in removing the crowd.
Verdict has been released by the bench of Justices SK Kaul, Aniruddha Bose and Krishna Murari they saud “an indefinite period of protests in a common area (that) creates inconvenience for others”.
“We have to make it clear that public places cannot be occupied indefinitely whether in Shaheen Bagh (in Delhi) or elsewhere. These sort of protests (like Shaheen Bagh) are not acceptable and (the) authorities should act… they must keep such spaces free from obstruction,” the top court said, adding the “administration cannot wait for orders from court to clear” the protest sites.
“We appreciate the right to peacefully protest and it can be (held) at designated places only,” the court stressed.
Hundreds of protesters, mainly women, and children camped out at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi for over three months earlier this year to protest against the CAA which is the Citizenship Amendment Act, NRC (National Register of Citizens), and NPR (National Population Register).
Later on, the nationwide coronavirus lockdown became the reason for the end of protest citing social distancing concerns.
