SC on Shaheen Bagh protest says, people have right to protest but can’t block roads

The Supreme
Court on Monday said people have the fundamental right to protest in a
democracy but they should not be blocking roads. “There must be a balance. This
could create chaos,” a two-judge bench comprising justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul
and KM Joseph observed in course of a hearing on the Shaheen Bagh protest that
has been blamed for causing inconvenience to people.

“The
question is where should they protest… It should not be a place like a
street,” the bench said right at the beginning of the hearing on Monday.

Two
petitions had been filed in the Supreme Court by lawyer Amit Sahni and BJP
leader Nand Kishore Garg to ask the top court to order anti-CAA protesters to
end the road blockade on the Shaheen Bagh – Kalindi Kunj stretch.

The Kalindi
Kunj road is a vital route since it connects three states – Delhi, Uttar
Pradesh and Haryana and the road closure has led to huge difficulties not only
for the residents of the area but lakh of commuters who are not able to use the
road due to the blockade.

Azad, in his
request, however, underscored that a bit of this inconvenience was linked to
the police blocking other roads that could have been used by commuters. Azad
had also alleged that the authorities would use any order to remove protesters
to justify police force on the peaceful protesters.

The judges
have asked two senior lawyers Santosh Hegde and lawyer Sadhana Ramachandran to
reach out to the protesters at Shaheen Bagh to ask them not to block roads.

Tushar
Mehta, the centre’s senior most-senior law officer, however, asked the court
not to make the protesters removing themselves from the road conditional upon
their getting an alternative site to protest.

The Shaheen
Bagh protesters are opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), passed on
December 12, 2019 that allows the government to fast-track citizenship for
minorities from three neighbouring countries, Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Afghanistan.