Delhi High Court Orders Government to Respond on Protest SOPs After Massive Jantar Mantar Clampdown

The Delhi High Court, with Acting Chief Justice Nitin Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma, ordered the Centre to submit its response to a petition demanding the enforcement of SOPs for protests. The filing, led by advocate Rishabh Saxena, a traders' body and street vendor Santosh Kushwaha, argues that repeated demonstrations at Jantar Mantar have disrupted traffic, businesses and professional activities, contravening a Supreme Court ruling in Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan v. Union of India.

Senior counsel Sacchin Puri and Sanjay Poddar urged the court to require protests be confined to designated sites. The court also listed petitions from NSUI president Vinod Jhakhar, seeking a SIT probe into alleged assaults during a protest demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, and from advocate Anshika Tripathi, challenging the closure of Jantar Mantar as a protest venue. The order follows a massive security operation on October 10 that detained thousands, shut metro stations and disrupted rail services.