The Delhi High Court will hear the Indian Youth Congress’s plea seeking permission to hold a protest at Jantar Mantar after Delhi Police rejected its request, bringing the administration of the capital’s designated demonstration spaces before the court.
The plea was mentioned for urgent listing on Thursday before a bench comprising acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma. The court agreed to hear the matter on Friday and told the petitioner’s counsel that, if it was not taken up then, the matter could be mentioned again.
The Indian Youth Congress, through its national president Uday Bhanu Chib, approached the court on October 3, challenging a Delhi Police communication dated October 1 that denied permission for the proposed demonstration. The organisation wants the communication quashed and has sought directions for fresh and lawful consideration of its request.
The proposed protest concerns alleged irregularities in the special intensive revision exercise, or SIR, and is directed at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. According to the petition, the organisation had applied to Delhi Police on September 25 to hold a peaceful demonstration involving between 100 and 150 people from October 1 to October 25.
The petition invokes the fundamental rights to freedom of speech and expression and to assemble peacefully without arms under Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b) of the Constitution. It says the demonstration was intended to raise concerns about transparency, accountability and the functioning of constitutional institutions.
The organisation has stated that it was prepared to comply with lawful conditions concerning security, traffic, discipline and public order. It has also acknowledged in its petition that the state can regulate assemblies to protect public order, traffic management, public safety and the rights of residents and other members of the public.
Its challenge, however, is directed at what it describes as the manner and extent of that regulation. The plea argues that the power to regulate a fundamental right cannot become an unrestricted power to prohibit its exercise. It calls for reasonable regulation, individualised assessment and proportionality rather than what it describes as a mechanical refusal.
The case places the functioning of Jantar Mantar within a wider administrative question: how authorities should balance public demonstrations with the daily operation of a dense capital district. Decisions on permissions can affect traffic movement, policing, nearby residents, workers and access to public space, while also determining how designated protest venues remain available for civic and political expression.
The petition says the dispute is not limited to the denial of one permission. It frames the issue as concerning the constitutional limits on administrative discretion when a state authority regulates the exercise of fundamental freedoms.
The High Court’s scheduled hearing will determine the next step in the challenge to the October 1 police communication and whether the request for the proposed demonstration must be reconsidered.
