The Delhi High Court will hear on Friday a petition filed by the Indian Youth Congress challenging Delhi Police’s refusal to allow a peaceful protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Jantar Mantar.
The petition was filed by IYC president Uday Bhanu Chib after the organisation said its request to hold the demonstration had been rejected by the Delhi Police. The organisation wants to protest over allegations of electoral irregularities involving Kumar. These allegations are those made by the IYC and have not been established by the court in the proceedings reported so far.
A bench headed by Justice Nitin Vasudev agreed to take up the petition after hearing submissions from senior advocate Sanjoy Ghosh. The court directed that the matter be listed within 24 hours, with the hearing scheduled for Friday.
According to the IYC’s plea, the proposed demonstration was intended to be peaceful and was to be held at Jantar Mantar, a designated location in central Delhi that is regularly used for public protests and political gatherings. The organisation has challenged the police decision not to grant permission for the event.
The immediate issue before the court is whether the police refusal should stand and whether the organisation can be permitted to conduct the proposed demonstration. The available report does not specify the reasons cited by Delhi Police for rejecting the request, nor does it provide details of any conditions that may have been proposed for holding the protest.
The case places Delhi’s system for regulating public demonstrations before the court. Permission decisions for protests in the capital involve considerations related to policing, public order, traffic management and the use of designated protest spaces. In this matter, however, the court’s reported hearing is limited to the petition filed by the IYC and the police decision it challenges.
The petition is also significant because it concerns a demonstration directed at the head of the Election Commission, a constitutional authority. The IYC has linked its proposed protest to allegations of electoral wrongdoing, while the court is expected to examine the organisation’s challenge to the denial of permission.
No ruling on the merits of the allegations against the Chief Election Commissioner has been reported. The next development in the case will be the Delhi High Court’s hearing on Friday, when the petition will be taken up before the bench headed by Justice Nitin Vasudev.
