Delhi court orders to remove barricades

The Supreme Court in a special sitting on Sunday to hear petitions against the closure of Delhi metro stations due to the CJP protests, has said all the barricades should be removed unless "absolutely warranted."

It also told the authorities to withdraw the enforcement of Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 which bans large gatherings.

"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," a bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said.

It said free movement of people should be normalised, subject to regulation in a public order situation, amid the protest call by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).

While hearing the matter on Friday, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Bagchi and Mohana had directed the Centre to ensure there was no "complete prohibition" of the movement of metro and trains coming to Delhi on October 10 due to the protest, saying they cannot bring everything to a halt.

But the metro stations had remained shut, a move that the petitioner and lawyer Shailendra Mani Tripathi said was contempt.

The bench said people have a right to protest but it should be within the Police Act.

"You have a right to protest, absolutely no quarrel on that but the process in which you protest has to be within the Police Act," the Supreme Court said.

Justice Bagchi told the petitioner they cannot say their right to protest is beyond the Police Act. The Supreme Court then issued notice to the authorities including Delhi Police, Union Home Secretary and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on the detentions and the circumstances surrounding them.

It ordered a compliance report by Tuesday.

The CJP and Opposition parties have been seeking the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the SIR process.

In the special sitting, the Supreme Court also heard concerns raised by lawyers and told the police that lawyers "shall not be impeded in discharging their professional duties." However, it reminded the lawyers that they should protest peacefully if they were really concerned and not instigate people.