SC Fixes Hearing On Shaheen Bagh Matter To March 23; Says Mediators Could Not Succeed

The apex court said there is need for magnanimity and for situation to cool down before Shaheen Bagh issue is taken up.

Protestors listen to interlocutors appointed by the Supreme Court and advocates Sanjay Hegde and Sadhna Ramachandran (unseen) at the Shaheen Bagh area, which has been blocked off to protest against India's new citizenship law, in New Delhi on February 20, 2020. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday fixed the Shaheen Bagh matter for further hearing to March 23, as it informed that the interlocutors did not succeed in convincing the protestors to move to an alternative site where no public place would be blocked. The court was hearing pleas seeking removal of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters from Delhi's Shaheen Bagh area. During the hearing, the apex court said that it will not expand scope of petitions filed in connection with the protests by looking into pleas on violence It said there is need for magnanimity and for situation to cool down before Shaheen Bagh issue is taken up. The Supreme Court also termed unfortunate the incidents of violence in Delhi’s northeast area but refused to entertain pleas on them. The apex court had adjourned the hearing in the matter after the interlocutors appointed by it submitted their report in a sealed cover on Monday. The court had on February 17 asked senior advocate Sanjay Hegde to "play a constructive role as an interlocutor" and talk to the protestors to move to an alternative site where no public place would be blocked. It had said that Hegde along with advocate Sadhana Ramachandran or any other person of his choice may talk to the protestors. The interlocutors placed the report before a bench of justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph which said it would peruse the report and hear the matter on February 26. The bench made it clear that the report will not be shared with the petitioners or the lawyers representing the Centre and Delhi Police at this stage. The two amicus curiae submitted their report in a sealed cover to the apex court. "We will go through the report," Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had said. Thousands of people, including a large number of Muslim women, have been staging a sit-in protest at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh area since mid-December last year against the CAA and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). A public interest litigation (PIL) in the matter, filed by Nand Kishore Garg and Amit Sahni through their lawyer Shashank Deo Sudhi, sought appropriate directions to the Centre and others concerned for removal of protestors from Shaheen Bagh near Kalindi Kunj. The petition seeks appropriate direction to the respondents, including the Centre, for laying down "detailed, comprehensive and exhaustive guidelines relating to outright restrictions for holding protest/agitation" leading to obstruction of the public space.