The Supreme Court has come down heavily against police action during the recent Jantar Mantar protests — observing that the right to a peaceful agitation was ‘guaranteed’. The apex court also agreed to hear a batch of pleas regarding the crackdown on students protesting over NEET paper leak and exam irregularities across the country. The development comes mere days after the court declined to watch videos of the demonstrations and urged a lawyer raising the issue to ‘not waste its time’.
“The Right to peaceful protest is absolutely guaranteed. That cannot be denied. So long as it is peaceful agitation, merely because there is agitation, there can’t be (lathi charge)…if there are excesses committed, it should be independently examined,” Indian Express quoted the Chief Justice as saying.
The Court also voiced concern that the matter was not limited to Delhi alone. The remarks came even as the Siwan SP told news agency ANI that action had been taken against a police official seen firing an AK-47 during the ‘Bihar Bandh’ protest on July 25. Multiple police officials have been suspended in various cities as their handling of the youth-led protests went viral for all the wrong reasons.
‘Uniformity of protocol is needed’
The Supreme Court reminded on Monday that the right to a “peaceful, lawful protest” was guaranteed under the Constitution. It also insisted that parity was needed in response to a lawyer noting that police personnel were also beaten up.
“Life of every individual irrespective of who they are is important. There should be a protocol in place. There should be proper space and no restriction. But if there are some anti-social elements etc that can be taken care of. This is not a question of Delhi only. Uniformity of protocol is needed,” the bench said.
The Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant also agreed to take up a separate plea, filed by a few family members of those police personnel who were attacked during the protest, along with other listed petitions.
PIL challenging Delhi mobile internet shutdown withdrawn
The Delhi High Court has allowed Software Freedom Law Centre, India to withdraw its Public Interest Litigation challenging a series of Home Ministry orders suspending mobile internet services around Jantar Mantar during protests over alleged irregularities in competitive examinations. Counsel for the petitioner told the Bench on Monday that they wished to withdraw the plea.
The PIL had sought quashing of the shutdown orders, a declaration that they were illegal and unconstitutional, production of the complete records relating to the suspension orders, and directions requiring contemporaneous publication of all future internet shutdown orders in accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgment in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India. It had also sought directions requiring future suspension orders to disclose reasons, the material relied upon, and why less restrictive alternatives were not adopted.