Delhi Police told the Delhi High Court that Jantar Mantar was denotified in accordance with directions from the Supreme Court, while the court issued notice on challenges to the restriction and the conditions imposed on peaceful protests in the capital.
Additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma, appearing for the police, said the Supreme Court had stressed on October 9 the need to identify and designate suitable alternative sites for protests. He told Justice Amit Mahajan that Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground had been named as new locations for agitations.
The submission was made during a hearing on a petition by the Indian Youth Congress seeking permission to hold a demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Jantar Mantar. The police argued that the petition had become “infructuous” after the decision to denotify the protest site and designate other locations.
“The entire petition is about peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar. All other prayers flow from it. We have denotified Jantar Mantar pursuant to orders of SC,” Sharma told the court, according to the submission recorded during the hearing.
The High Court, however, issued notice to the authorities on the petition’s request for reconsideration. The petitioner’s senior counsel, Sidharth Luthra, said the plea would be amended in view of the development and asked the court to obtain the police’s position on the remaining prayers.
The court also issued notice to the police on a plea by IYC president Uday Bhanu Chib challenging what the petition described as an “automatic, mechanical, unguided or disproportionate prohibition” of peaceful assembly without an individualised assessment. The plea also challenges the requirement that applications for protests be submitted at least 10 days before the proposed date.
The dispute follows an application submitted by the Indian Youth Congress on September 25 to hold a peaceful demonstration of between 100 and 150 people at Jantar Mantar from October 1 to October 25. The organisation said it had agreed to comply with lawful conditions relating to security, traffic, discipline and public order. The request was rejected by the police on October 1, after which the organisation approached the High Court earlier this month.
The petition said the proposed demonstration concerned transparency, accountability and the functioning of constitutional institutions. It described the protest as an exercise of the rights to freedom of speech and expression and to assemble peacefully and without arms.
The police’s submission before the High Court places the dispute within a wider administrative question: how Delhi designates public spaces for demonstrations while managing security, traffic and public order. The court was also informed that a similar plea challenging the denotification of Jantar Mantar is pending before the Supreme Court.
The High Court is scheduled to hear the matter next in November. Until then, the court will consider the authorities’ response to the challenges concerning the denotification, the alternative protest sites, individualised assessment of permissions and the 10-day application requirement.
