Will hear all parties, ensure no inconvenience: SC on contempt pleas against clampdown in Delhi

In a special sitting, the Supreme Court on Sunday said it will grant hearing to all lawyers while dealing with a plea seeking contempt proceedings against authorities for alleged blatant violation of the court’s direction to ensure that “complete prohibition” of metro and trains services should not be implemented in Delhi due to the CJP protest.

A bench of justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said it will hear all parties and ensure no inconvenience is caused, saying the top court is always at the service of the nation.

“We know you all are aggrieved by what happened yesterday. We are not here to trivialise what happened,” the bench said.

The top court is also hearing a habeas petition filed by senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy against the detention of political leaders.

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The contempt plea, filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi, has arrayed Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation chairperson D Thara as respondents.

The petition referred to the top court’s October 9 order which was passed while hearing a separate plea against the closure of 57 metro stations and cancellation of trains to Delhi in view of the protest.

The protest call was given by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and some student organisations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission.

The government thwarted a planned mass mobilisation at Jantar Mantar on Saturday after an unprecedented security clampdown and the detention of over 7,000 protesters, including CJP leader Abhijit Dipke, several opposition leaders and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee.