New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday, October 9, offered a small measure of relief to protesters, as it flagged public inconvenience caused by the Metro shutdown and dismissed a plea seeking a probe into Delhi Police FIRs against student protesters at Jantar Mantar.
The apex court directed the Centre not to stop train services to Delhi and close the Metro stations ahead of the October 10 protests announced by the CJP and Opposition parties against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Asserting that there is a “distinction between complete prohibition and regulation of movement of Metro and other trains”, the court asked the Centre to allow these services in a regulated manner and give due publicity to its advisory so that the public does not face any hardships on Saturday.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta assured the court that he would urge the authorities to allow the services in a regulated manner.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohana was hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the curbs imposed ahead of the protests.
Several groups have alleged that ahead of the agitation, protesters were being picked up from across the country. CJP co-convener Ashutosh Ranka said Deepak Baliyan, the organisation’s co-in-charge, had been detained in Rajasthan. He claimed that thousands of volunteers had been detained in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
The Railways has cancelled select trains to two Delhi stations hours ahead of the protest, while 57 metro stations have reportedly been shut on Saturday.
‘Seek review of our earlier order?’
Meanwhile, the apex court also dismissed a plea seeking an investigation of the FIRs registered by the Delhi Police against student protesters over the July Jantar Mantar protests.
The same bench of the CJI, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V Mohana was hearing a PIL filed by L Ramanathan who argued that there cannot be any judicial interference in the police functions, as they are “independent and sovereign”.
The CJI said the court had exercised its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to quash the FIRs after considering the circumstances of the student protesters. “You say we should not have invoked Article 142 and quashed the FIRs. Please appreciate that these are young students. We have to see their parents and their future. We don’t want them to have to come to court,” the LiveLaw quoted the CJI as observing.
The bench said that the relief sought amounted to a challenge to its earlier decision to quash the FIRs.
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