Supreme Court to hear plea seeking right to protest peacefully at Jantar Mantar

The Supreme Court is set to hear a plea seeking judicial directions to the police to allow peaceful protests at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, reigniting the long battle over where — and whether — Indians can exercise their constitutional right to assemble. The petition comes days after Delhi Police imposed prohibitory orders across the New Delhi district on October 2 — Gandhi Jayanti — ahead of a proposed demonstration demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Access to Jantar Mantar was barricaded, several metro stations were shut or restricted, and hundreds of people attempting to reach the site were detained, with reports putting the number between 550 and 700. The crackdown revived an uncomfortable constitutional question: if citizens cannot protest at Jantar Mantar — the very site earmarked by the authorities for demonstrations — where can they exercise the right to peaceful assembly? The Supreme Court has already answered the legal question once. In Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan v. Union of India (2018), the court recognised peaceful protest and demonstration as fundamental rights under Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b), struck down the National Green Tribunal's blanket ban on protests at Jantar Mantar, and rejected the idea that protecting one set of rights could result in the total extinction of another. It required only that protest rights be balanced with those of residents, commuters and the wider public. The present plea seeks to give that judgment teeth: binding directions to Delhi Police so that the barricading of Jantar Mantar and the detention of peaceful demonstrators cannot quietly become the norm. The petitioner's argument is simple — a fundamental right that exists only when the police choose to permit it is no right at all. The court's decision to list the plea puts the spotlight once more on the balance between order and dissent in the capital.