Supreme Court defers hearing on pleas seeking removal of anti-CAA protesters from Delhi's Shaheen Bagh

The pleas seek directions to the Delhi Police to take action to ensure smooth traffic movement on the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch, which remains blocked due to the anti-CAA protests for over 50 days now.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday (February 7) deferred hearing till Monday on pleas seeking directions to the Delhi Police to take action to ensure smooth traffic movement on the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch, which remains blocked due to the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests for over 50 days now.

"We do understand that there is a problem and we will hear the same on February 10," the Supreme Court bench said after Advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi started arguing and said that the top court should pass appropriate directions to the concerned authorities as far as the protestors in Shaheen Bagh is concerned.

The plea moved by lawyer-activist Amit Sahni on January 20 had sought supervision of the situation in Shaheen Bagh where several women are sitting on an indefinite protest, by a retired Supreme Court judge or a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court to avoid any further deterioration in the situation and to circumvent any violence.

"The respondents (Delhi Police) cannot be permitted to behave like mute spectators particularly in a situation presently faced by persons living in the vicinity of Kalindi Kunj," the plea stated.

Sahni contended that the Delhi High Court did not order the forthwith removal of traffic restrictions and observed that no direction can be issued on the methodology to handle protest and traffic movement successfully, and left it to the discretion of the police.

"No one can be permitted to occupy a public road for any reason whatsoever under the pretext of peaceful protest and that too for an indefinite period to make others suffer for the same", the petitioner said in his plea.

The High Court had asked the police to examine the issue while bearing in mind that law and order is supposed to be maintained.

The second petition has been filed by BJP leader Nand Kishor Garg seeking top court's directions for removing anti-CAA protesters from Shaheen Bagh. 

A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde had on Tuesday asked Garg, the petitioner seeking court direction to remove road blockade at Shaheen Bagh, to approach the mentioning officer.

Shashank Deo Sudhi, the lawyer for Garg, sought a direction from the court to the Centre, police and state government to take immediate steps to remove protesters from Shaheen Bagh.

The petition urged the apex court to pass appropriate directions, as the protests were causing severe inconvenience to the common people as an arterial road connecting Delhi and Noida had been blocked.

The protests have also caused obstruction to entire vehicular and pedestrian movement from the road connecting two important cities i.e. Delhi and Noida.