Indian SC orders removal of unnecessary barricades in Delhi

New Delhi: The Indian Supreme Court on Sunday directed authorities to remove barricades in New Delhi unless they were “absolutely warranted” and withdraw restrictions imposed around the court premises, amid a security crackdown ahead of protests called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).

A special bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said access to the Supreme Court and other courts must remain unhindered, stressing that restrictions should not create apprehensions about access to justice.

“We have been informed that a notice under Section 163 has been imposed in and around the Supreme Court. We direct the authorities to take down the restriction so that there is no apprehension of access to justice with regard to ingress and egress to the Supreme Court or any other court,” the bench said.

Court directs authorities to normalise people’s free movement, traffic

The court also directed authorities to normalise the free movement of people and traffic, subject to necessary regulations in the interest of public order.

The hearing came amid widespread restrictions, barricading and mass detentions across the national capital during protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Supreme Court says metro and rail services must function normally

The Supreme Court reiterated that metro and rail services connecting Delhi should function normally unless restrictions were necessary to address a public order situation.

On Friday, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana had directed the government to ensure there was no “complete prohibition” on the movement of metro and trains into Delhi on October 10.

However, several metro stations remained shut during Saturday’s protest, prompting lawyer Shailendra Mani Tripathi to raise concerns about possible contempt of the court’s earlier order.

Several opposition leaders detained while attempting to join protest

Several opposition leaders, including former chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar, were also detained while attempting to join the protest.

The CJP has renewed its call for demonstrations at Jantar Mantar on Sunday, insisting that the agitation would continue until Gyanesh Kumar resigns. Ajinkya Shinde, who was designated to lead the protest after Dipke’s detention, said the group would not retreat.

“The government thought we would back down after the detention of Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka. But we won’t. We will continue our agitation till Gyanesh Kumar resigns,” Shinde said.

The CJP and opposition parties are demanding Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise. The Election Commission has rejected allegations of wrongdoing.