SHAHEEN BAGH CASE
The Shaheen Bagh protest started because of the Citizenship Amendment Act passed by the Parliament on December 12, 2019. This allowed citizenship to all the religious people except Muslims migrated from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014. A Writ Petition was filed by the Indian Union Muslim League under Article 32 challenging the constitutionality of the CAA.
Protests against the CAA was started on December 15, 2019 at Shaheen Bagh with a few women and then attracted many people, which eventually led to the blockage of road and became inconvenient for the commuters to move through that place. Due to this blockage, many petitions were filed before the Courts. The SC decided to answer all these petitions through the case of Amit Sahni v. Commissioner of Police & Ors., which was initially filed in the Delhi High Court. The Delhi High Court left this issue with the Delhi Police. But, the situation did not change and through the Special Leave Petition, the Petitioner approached the Supreme Court.
In this case the appellant argued that the right to move freely within the territory of India of some people is violated due to the exercise of right to assemble peacefully without arms by some people. But, it is well established in the Article 19 (2) and Article 19 (3) of the Constitution that, the State can impose reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clauses (a) & (b) in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.
Dissent and Democracy go hand in hand. So, it is ok to protest, but your exercise of right shall not curb others in exercise of their rights. To protest one needs to take permission from the administrative authorities. The Administrative authorities have to check where they are permitting the people to protest and will that permission can lead to any problem. Even if it is allowed to protest, whether such an act can be permitted for an indefinite period of time? So, the SC stated that it is the duty of the administration to control such an act, and they can impose reasonable restrictions on those who are protesting, such as shifting them to a suitable place, providing temporary reliefs, etc. In this case, the Administration has failed to do its duty properly, the SC had interfered. The Protest however subsided due to the Covid situation with the action taken by the Police. So, ones right to protest cannot interfere with the others right of mobility and it is the duty of the administration to manage it and the Constitution has already provided them with the powers to impose reasonable restrictions in such cases.
Shaheen Bagh Case by Velanati Jyothirmai @ Lex Cliq
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