Protest, but don't block roads, court tells Shaheen Bagh protesters

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde appointed interlocutor

The Supreme Court on Monday conceded that mothers, children and ordinary people of Shaheen Bagh and Delhi had a right to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, even as it expressed concern over their blocking of public areas.

“Democracy works on different views. We have no quibble on that. You want to protest, no problem. You don’t want to wait for our judgment on the validity of the CAA but want to have a social build-up against the legislation, we have no problem... We do not mind if a 1,000 sites are created, but our limited concern is whether you could protest without blocking roads and entering public areas... With every right there comes a responsibility too,” Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul observed.

It appointed senior advocate Sanjay Hegde to act as an interlocutor, along with advocate Sadhana Ramachandran, to convey its apprehension to the protesters and suggest to them to move to an area where they could continue the protests but not inconvenience public movement. The court left it to Mr. Hegde to approach former bureaucrat Wajahat Habibullah to join them.