Senior advocates Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran who were appointed as “interlocutors” and tasked with the responsibility of convincing the Shaheen Bagh protestors to shift to an alternate site have reportedly submitted their report in a sealed cover on Monday in the Supreme Court.
Two petitions were filed in the apex court, seeking clearance of Shaheen Bagh area and the Kalindi Kunj Road. The first petition had been filed by lawyer and activist, Amit Sahni while the other one had been filed by BJP leader Nand Kishore Garg.
The latter wanted a copy of the interlocutor’s report but the permission was denied on the grounds that it was for Court’s perusal only. The report was filed in accordance with the Supreme court’s order on February 17.
Another interlocutor, Wajahat Habibullah, who was a former Chief Information Commissioner had also filed an affidavit alleging that the police had been unnecessarily blocking various roads and that the blame was being placed ‘wrongly’ on the Shaheen Bagh protestors. The hearing had been adjourned till Wednesday (February 26).
On February 10, the apex court observed that there must be a designated site to carry out such protests and raised concerns about whether public inconvenience can be caused by blocking roads indefinitely. A Bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde also took suo motu cognisance over the death of a 4-month-old at the protest site.
It was reported that the Shaheen Bagh protestors had put up seven conditions to the Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors to decide on vacating the protest site, which they have illegally occupied since December 15, 2019. The conditions include providing an alternative protest venue within Shaheen Bagh itself and withdrawal of all cases against Jamia students. The protestors had also demanded that there should be no NPR exercise in Delhi.
Shaheen Bagh has become the new Mecca for Anti-CAA demonstration. The protests fuelled by Islamic supremacy has also caused unprecedented traffic woes for daily commuters. 250 Retail stores and commercial outlets have been shut for the past two and a half months in the adjoining areas, thereby affecting the livelihood of 3000 workers and a loss of ₹150 crores.
After partially opening the Noida-Faridabad road, a group of over 500 Muslim women gathered near the Jafrabad Metro Station and blocked road No. 66, which connects Seelampur to Maujpur and Yamuna Vihar.
