Shaheen Bagh protests: Delhi HC directs Police to look into closure of Kalindi Kunj road while keeping in mind larger public interest, law and order

The Delhi High Court today directed 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.

The Court records, in its order,

"It ought to be kept in mind that whenever any agitation or protest is going on, situations is like fluid - keep on changing looking to the temperament of the protestors and resistances by other people. Simultaneously, police has to maintain law and order."

The Bench further added,

"… 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."

The two roads have been closed since December 15, 2019 due to the ongoing protests against Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizen (NRC) at Shaheen Bagh.

The order was passed by a Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar in a petition by Advocate Amit Sahni seeking directions to Delhi Traffic Police to withdraw the closure of two roads.

The petitioner submitted that the roads were shut as a temporary measure but it was extended from time to time till date, which is causing huge inconvenience/hardship to the lakhs of commuters everyday.

The Court was further informed that the Kalindi Kunj stretch is quite crucial as it connects Delhi, Faridabad (Haryana) and Noida (Uttar Pradesh).

Due to its closure, several lakhs of commuters have been forced to use the Delhi-Noida-Delhi (DND) Expressway and Ashram road, leading to massive traffic, it was asserted.

"With the additional burden on DND and Ashram route, it is taking around 15-25 minute for people to cross a red light at Ashram...news reports reveals that as per traffic police estimates, Ashram Chowk is used by around 300,00 vehicles on average every day. With the Kalindi Kunj road closure, an additional 1,00,000 are flowing through the intersection", the petition reads.

The petition was disposed of the by Court with a direction to the Delhi Police to consider the issue while keeping in mind larger public interests and law and order.

Earlier this week, the same Bench had declined entertain a similar plea raising concerns of traffic on the DND flyway due to the ongoing protests in the Shaheen Bagh area against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

[Read the Order]

[Read the Petition]