The Delhi High Court has directed an activist who represents bonded labourers to apply for fresh permission for holding a protest/demonstration at Jantar Mantar.
The direction came after the Court was informed by Delhi Police that the earlier order of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) imposing prohibition on protests due to Covid-19 have now ceased to exist and fresh orders have come in force.
A single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh asked the respondents to consider the application of the petitioner and disposed the same within seven days in accordance with the prevalent guidelines passed by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the DDMA and any other applicable laws/notifications.
The Courts direction came on a plea filed by Nirmal Gorana, who is a social activist, and represents bonded labourers. He had moved Court challenging the DDMA order, which had imposed restrictions on gatherings in the wake of Covid-19. He filed the writ petition seeking permission to organise a protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, while maintaining social distancing norms.
The Court has noted in its order, “That initially the petition was filed in December 2020 seeking right to protest in light of various circulars of the DDMA leading to the rejection by DCP concerned on 17th August, 2020, and 29th August, 2020 for holding a protest and demonstration.”
Advocate Gautam Narayan, ASC appearing for the respondents, submitted that the initial rejection was in view of the various notifications issued by the MHA and the DDMA due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He told the Court that none of the notifications which were the subject matter of the original writ or even the amended writ are applicable today as they were for a limited duration and have already lapsed.
He said, “Without going into the merits of the earlier rejection issued by the authorities, if the petitioner applies afresh, the same would be considered in terms of the existing guidelines for holding demonstrations and protests.”
Following the submission of the Delhi Police, the Court disposed of the petition and asked them to decide afresh application filed by petitioner, for holding protest/demonstration, in accordance with law.