Shaheen Bagh protest: Petition filed in Supreme Court against blockage of Kalindi Kunj road in Delhi

Lawyer and activist, Amit Sahni has moved the Supreme Court on the issue of closure of the Kalindi Kunj road in Delhi on account of the ongoing protest at Shaheen Bagh against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.

The protest at Shaheen Bagh has been going on for over 30 days leading to the blockage of the Kalindi Kunj road.

The petitioner has claimed that the Delhi High Court's order does not seek to achieve the relief sought by the petitioner given that the High Court merely directed the Delhi police to look into the grievances of the people on the issue. Challenging the same order, the petitioner has approached the Supreme Court.

Sahni has prayed for certain specific directions for the removal of the blockage of the protest site.

The petitioner seeks for the situation to be monitored or supervised by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or a retired judge of the Delhi High Court in order "to circumvent any violence".

Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court had disposed of Sahni's plea by directing the Delhi Police to look into the issue of closure of the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh Stretch and the Okhla underpass in the city, while keeping the larger public interest and the law and order situation in mind.

While doing so, the High Court had declined to directly act on the issue, instead opining that the Delhi Police was vested with sufficient powers and the jurisdiction to act as required in response to the ground reality at the protest site. In this regard, the order records,

"… the respondents have all power, jurisdiction and authority to control the traffic, wherever protests or agitations are going on, in the larger public interest. In such a situation, no specific writ, order or direction can be issued by this Court as to how to handle the agitation or protest or the place of protest ad traffic. It all depends on the ground reality and the wisdom of the police, where situations may keep changing every 10 minutes."