Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi spent more than an hour on Thursday parsing whether Delhi Police could remove Jantar Mantar from the capital’s list of designated protest sites after oral observations from the bench, even as they issued notices on Opposition petitions challenging the Election Commission’s special intensive revision of voter rolls.
Protest-site fight
On 12 October police modified a standing order to denotify Jantar Mantar, steering demonstrators toward Burari Ground, Ramlila Maidan and CBD Ground instead. Petitioners argued the move flowed from a misreading of the Supreme Court’s 9 October directions on regulating demonstrations.
Justice Bagchi said the court needed to decide whether oral remarks during a prior hearing could be treated as binding law. The Union government’s affidavit had cited those remarks as justification; lawyers for civil society groups said only written orders carry legal weight.
Footage and force allegations
The bench directed police to preserve all CCTV material from anti-Chief Election Commissioner protests on 10 October, when more than a thousand people were detained under Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita prohibitory orders. Journalists and lawyers were among those held, prompting separate petitions on press freedom.
The court also asked the Union to explain Section 163 BNSS orders that blanketed Delhi ahead of the demonstrations. Justice Bagchi told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta the government must “enlighten” the bench on the legal basis for mass detentions.
SIR petitions in the same courtroom
In parallel, the bench issued notice on a writ led by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi seeking disclosure of Election Commission files on the voter-roll revision that has removed roughly 13 crore names nationwide, according to petitioners. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and fellow commissioners are respondents.
The Chief Justice orally remarked that one petitioner would need to explain his conduct, without naming him in the published order. The court declined Gandhi’s earlier request for an administrative meeting, saying pending judicial matters were the proper forum.
Stakes for Delhi’s festival week
With Dussehra crowds filling central Delhi, the protest-site question intersects commuter disruptions and security deployments. The Delhi High Court had refused to block a separate demonstration at Connaught Place Central Park on 16 October while recording police assurances on crowd control.
The Supreme Court’s eventual ruling will clarify how much weight oral bench comments carry for executive agencies—a question that reaches beyond election protests to any ministry citing courtroom asides as policy mandates.