Occupying public places indefinitely is not acceptable: SC

New Delhi: Pronouncing its verdict on a petition filed by advocate Amit Sahni against the Shaheen Bagh Protests, the Supreme Court said that occupying public places for protest is not acceptable.

Led mostly by women, Shaheen Bagh protests saw a group of people blocking the road in Shaheen Bagh in Delhi to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act last year. The protestors staged a sit-in protest for three months. The protest that ran from December, had to be removed by the police in March due to the pandemic and the nationwide lockdown.

The petitioner, Ami Sahni filed the petition several months ago, as protestors were blocking public movement.

The bench was headed by Justice S K Kaul, which said that such places cannot be occupied "indefinitely." They also said that the Delhi Police should have taken action to clear the protestors from the Shaheen Bagh area, as it was leading to problems in public movement and traffic jams.

The bench said, "Democracy and dissent go hand in hand," they added that the concerned authorities have to take actions on their own while dealing with situations like this.

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