The Supreme Court on Friday reiterated that protesters cannot block roads and continually inconvenience the public, as it took a grim view of a woman’s complaint that it has been taking her almost two hours, instead of 20 minutes, to travel from Noida to Delhi due to frequent blockades and protests,
A bench, headed by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, lamented that despite several judicial pronouncements on keeping public roads free, the situation did not seem to improve.
Hundreds of thousands of farmers have been camped at Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh since November last year in protest against three controversial central laws that aim to liberalise the farm economy, and traffic at many points, including at Chilla border at Noida, have been diverted, adding significantly to commuters’ travel times.
“Many months have gone but the problem is still there. Roads have to be free. You cannot cause continuing inconvenience to others,” the bench, which also included justice Hemant Gupta, told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Delhi Police.
The bench told the S-G, “We are not concerned with how you resolve this issue, whether politically or administratively or judicially. But we have said this before, roads should not be blocked. This is a single mother before us who has to face many problems because of blocked roads.”
{{/usCountry}}The bench told the S-G, “We are not concerned with how you resolve this issue, whether politically or administratively or judicially. But we have said this before, roads should not be blocked. This is a single mother before us who has to face many problems because of blocked roads.”
{{/usCountry}}Mehta agreed with the court’s view, saying the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana should also be present before the bench for a proper resolution of the issue.
At this, the bench issued notices also to the two states in the National Capital Region (NCR), seeking their replies before April 19, when the case will be heard next.
“We are not concerned with the larger issues, but public roads should not be blocked and this has been repeatedly emphasised by this court,” recorded the bench in its order.
On March 26, the top court issued notices to the Centre and the Delhi Police commissioner on the plea of one Monicca Agarwaal who complained that instead of 20 minutes, she ends up spending two hours to travel from Noida to Delhi because of road blockades and demonstrations of all kinds.
Agarwaal, who works in an information technology firm, stated in her petition that she needs to commute between Delhi and Noida for work, but said the travel has become a “nightmare” for her.
She rued that various directions passed by the top court in several cases, including the Shaheen Bagh protest matter, to keep public roads clear have not been followed. The plea added that the petitioner being a single mother with medical issues was facing harrowing time on account of failure of the authorities in complying with the Supreme Court’s orders. The court in October 2020 termed “illegal” the anti-citizenship law protests held at Shaheen Bagh, holding that protesters could not occupy public ways and spaces indefinitely.
Agreeing to examine her petition, the court on March 26 issued notices to the Centre and Delhi Police “to ensure that the road area is kept clear so that the passage from one place to the other is not affected”.
On April 8, the Delhi Police submitted its affidavit in the matter, pointing out that Agarwaal’s grievances arise out of the prolonged protests by the farmers’ groups that have gathered at several entry points to the national capital to demand repeal of the three contentious farm laws enacted in September last year.
The police claimed it took stern actions against all violators related to the Republic Day tractors’ rally violence this year and was committed to prevent all unauthorised blockades of road. However, the affidavit added, Agarwaal’s problems are due to blockades in Delhi’s neighbouring areas, falling in the states of UP and Haryana, which were beyond the jurisdiction of the Delhi Police.