Delhi High Court rejects plea seeking relocation of Shaheen Bagh protests, removal of police barricades

The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to entertain a petition which demanded that police barricades at the Shaheen Bagh protest site be removed. The petitioner's argument was that the barricades put in place in and around the Shaheen Bagh protest site was disrupting traffic and causing trouble to several daily commuters. The petition also sought that the protesters be shifted elsewhere, another demand that the Delhi High Court turned down.

According to reports, the petition contended that the protest at Shaheen Bagh, where demonstrators have organised a sit-in since December 14 against the central government's policies - Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) - was causing traffic congestion in widely commuted roads. It also said that the police barricades put in place to check the demonstrations were adding to the traffic congestion problem in and around Shaheen Bagh.

The route from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and a few hospitals were getting hampered due to the Shaheen Bagh protests, said the petitioner, adding that the route is widely commuted by office-goers, which has resulted in lakhs of people suffering and their work gets hampered.

The Delhi Police has been issuing traffic advisories to notify of the traffic congestion in the area.