In a major decision, the Supreme Court, on Wednesday, ruled out that authorities should not let protestors block public spaces like they did in Shaheen Bagh, while emphasising peaceful protests are allowed to take place at designated areas.
The court called Shaheen Bagh protest against the citizenship law a failing on the part of administration which resulted into major inconvenience for localites.
The apex court was hearing a bunch of petitions which sought directives from the court on right to protest at public spaces.
The bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Aniruddha Bose and Krishna Murari said that staging protests is a democratic right and the petitions challenging the CAA before the apex court can nor take away the right of citizens to protest.
However, it asserted that blocking public spaces and roads cannot be resorted in the name of democracy. One has to be obligated to perform fundamental duties as well as per the constitution, the bench said.
“Democracy and dissent go hand in hand… (But) Occupying public places like Shaheen Bagh for protests is not acceptable… Authorities have to act on their own and cannot hide behind courts… Public places cannot be occupied indefinitely like during the Shaheen Bagh protests,” the Supreme Court said.
Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Kaul said, “Such kind of occupation of public ways, whether at the site in question or anywhere else, for protests is not acceptable and the administration ought to take action to keep areas calear of enroachments or obstructions… We hope such a situation does not arise in future and protests are subject to legal position as enunciated above, with some sympathy and dialogue, but are not permitted to get out of hand.”
Last winter, massive protests were held in Shaheen Bagh area of Delhi against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). The sit-in protest, led by women lasted for nearly four months.