The Delhi High Court agreed on October 8 to hear on Friday the Indian Youth Congress’s plea against Delhi Police’s refusal to allow a protest at Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The plea has a timing argument and a principle argument. On timing, the Youth Congress applied on September 25 and says the refusal was communicated only on October 1, the day of the demonstration.
On principle, it says the police cannot turn a power to regulate a peaceful assembly into a power to prohibit it without an individualised and proportionate assessment, and it invokes Articles 14, 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b).
The police have not responded in the reports available on October 8, so the answer will come in court.
The protest is part of a wider dispute: on October 6, INDIA bloc MPs marched towards the Election Commission with the same demand.
The petitioner is the Indian Youth Congress, through its national president Uday Bhanu Chib.
The plea was filed by advocate Roopesh Singh Bhadauria.
The Indian Youth Congress applied to Delhi Police on September 25 for a peaceful gathering of about 100 to 150 people.
It said it would accept lawful conditions on security, traffic management, discipline and public order.
Delhi Police communicated its rejection on October 1, the very day the demonstration was scheduled, according to Bar and Bench.
The plea argues that the refusal came too late despite repeated follow-ups with the police.
It argues that the police cannot turn a power to regulate a peaceful assembly into a power to prohibit it without an individualised and proportionate assessment.
It challenges what it calls a mechanical application of protest guidelines.
The plea invokes Articles 14, 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b) of the Constitution, which cover equality, freedom of speech and the right to assemble peacefully.
The plea also relies on Supreme Court rulings that recognise the right to peaceful assembly.
Jantar Mantar, New Delhi (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0