Photo: Pulakit Singh / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Delhi Police on Thursday, October 15, told the Delhi High Court that they had taken enough steps to control and regulate the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) planned “Lehra Do Tiranga” gathering at Central Park in Connaught Place on Friday, and would take “all possible steps in accordance with law” if needed. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma recorded the assurance while hearing a public interest litigation that sought to stop the event.
What the court recorded
The petition was filed by Anil Kumar Gupta, who says he is a street vendor at Palika Bazar in Connaught Place. He asked the court to bar the CJP from holding any agitation, march or gathering at Central Park or any other place that is not a designated protest venue, and also sought a wider ban on demonstrations in central Delhi. Senior advocate Sacchin Puri, appearing for him, argued that Connaught Place is not a protest site and that a gathering during the Dussehra weekend would hit traders hard. “This protest has to be stopped,” he told the bench in the morning.
The bench first asked him to return at 2.30 pm, after the Supreme Court had heard related protest matters. In the afternoon, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma gave the assurance for the police and asked that the CJP be read to include its associates; the bench said it would cover office bearers and everybody. When Mr Puri pressed for a specific restraint order so that any breach could be pursued as criminal contempt, the bench declined.
We have passed an order now, Mr Puri. Don’t insist on that.
Delhi High Court bench
Why the CJP called the gathering
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has asked people to gather at Central Park with the national flag at 5 pm on Friday, and has called for similar Tiranga marches in other cities at the same hour. The call followed the jailing of CJP co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, who were remanded to five days of judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail for allegedly violating their peace bonds and entering Jantar Mantar, which was de-notified as a protest site on Monday. The two had unfurled the Tricolour there on Tuesday morning.
Speaking at the Press Club on Thursday alongside advocate Prashant Bhushan and actor Prakash Raj, Mr Dipke said waving the flag was not a crime. “You have called unfurling the Tricolour a violation of law. For whom? For Gyanesh Kumar?” he asked, referring to the Chief Election Commissioner whose resignation the protesters are demanding over the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.
Security build-up in central Delhi
Police sources said several companies of paramilitary forces are already stationed in the capital, with barricades and checks planned around Connaught Place and Jantar Mantar. A senior officer said Connaught Place is not a designated protest site; demonstrations can be held at Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground or CBD Ground with permission. Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS are in force in the New Delhi area, and police have asked the Union home ministry to keep 273 companies of central forces in Delhi until October 20.
What happens next
Traders in Connaught Place, who say weeks of protests have cut their business sharply, have decided to keep shops open on Friday. The High Court is already hearing separate pleas by traders and lawyers seeking rules for protests in central Delhi, while the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to explain why Jantar Mantar was removed as a protest venue.
