Delhi HC refuses to stop CJP’s October 16 protest at Connaught Place

The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to restrain the CJP and its founder Abhijeet Dipke from holding a protest at the Connaught Place Central Park on October 16, even as it took on record the police’s assurance that all possible steps would be taken to regulate and control their activity.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma was hearing a plea by a Connaught Place vendor seeking a direction to the police to regulate the protest as per the existing law laid down by the Supreme Court.

The petitioner’s senior counsel submitted that traders and vendors would be “on the streets” if they lost another weekend to closures due to protest in central Delhi during the festive season.

Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma submitted that steps have been taken to control the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s activities and assured that the apprehension of the petitioner would be taken care of.

The court took the assurance on record.

Also Read: No room to protest: Jantar Mantar denotified, alternatives costly and distant

Even as the senior counsel for the petitioner urged the court to pass a “specific” direction restraining the CJP, the bench said, “Don’t insist. We have passed the order.”

The matter came up before the bench after it agreed to hear the petition on an urgent basis earlier in the day.

“In the heart of Connaught Place Central Park, a protest is called. It seems we are being targeted. This is not a site (for protest). They have already started shutting down. This is the Dussehra weekend. This protest has to be stopped,” the petitioner’s senior counsel had said while mentioning the matter in the morning.

Dipke has called on “patriots” to gather at Central Park in Delhi’s business hub Connaught Place on Friday with the national flag, alleging that CJP members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka have been “jailed for unfurling the Tricolour”.

The call came on a day Das and Ranka were sent to five-day judicial custody and were lodged in Tihar Jail for allegedly violating their peace bonds and trespassing into Jantar Mantar, which has been denotified as a protest area.

Central Delhi has witnessed massive protests being carried out by opposition parties, student groups and civil society members since June-July this year over various issues, including matters related to the functioning of the Election Commission.