No complete ban on protests and sit-ins at Jantar Mantar: Supreme Court

Complete blanket ban can not be implemented on protest and sin-ins at Jantar Mantar and Boat Club, Delhi, notified Supreme Court of India in a ruling today. There was a ban on protesting in these two places last year by the National Green Tribunal, the Delhi police have been asked to set up ground rules for the protest. “We have to balance the interests of the protesters,” the court said. “There cannot be a complete ban on holding protests at places like Jantar Mantar and Boat Club (near India Gate),” the bench said.

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Prashant Bhushan today tweeted, ‘SC has today struck down the Govt’s ban on rallies & meetings in the Boat club & Jantar Mantar area of Delhi. This ban was a gross violation of the fundamental right of people to meet, assemble & protest. Court has asked the police commissioner to frame guidelines within 2 months’.

The applicant had defended that in central Delhi, there are restrictions on large gatherings. So not many places in the capital are left where there can be protest or gathering to exercise their rights.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “I welcome the Hon’ble Supreme Court verdict upholding peaceful right to protest in central Delhi. Attempts to convert Delhi into a police state is dangerous for democracy and rightly struck down by Hon’ble Supreme Court.”

I welcome the Hon'ble Supreme Court verdict upholding peaceful right to protest in central Delhi.
Attempts to convert Delhi into a police state is dangerous for democracy and rightly struck down by Hon'ble Supreme Court

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 23, 2018

Jantar Mantar has been a democratic site for peaceful protest for over two decades. It’s a sight where there have been sit-ins, hunger strikes, leaders giving speeches. There are nearly 1724 monuments in the place which exhibits astronomy.