COVID19: "Removal Of Shaheen Bagh Protesters Imperative To Curb Spread Of Disease", Says Plea In SC

A bench comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar, Vineet Saran & Krishna Murari directed the registry to accept the applications and put it up for hearing on March 23, 2020.

The application, filed by Advocate Amit Sahni, inter alia, sought placing additional documents on record which are various notifications released by the Government of India, Delhi Government and other authorities, for preventing spread of COVID19.

In this backdrop, petitioner has averred that as per notification dated March 19 issued by the Delhi Government, regulations had been released in order to restrict the gathering of more than 50 person till 31^st March 2020; yet the protesters did not vacate the premises.

"That to regulate the disease the talks between the Delhi Police and the women protesting failed as the protestors ignored the appeal made by the police to vacate the main road and stated that they will continue to protest" it has been averred.

Further, in light of this, the petitioner has prayed that as there is currently no vaccine to prevent the disease, the best way to prevent the disease is to avoid gatherings/crowd.

The petition has urged the court to "take immediate directions for removal of mass gathering from Shaheen Bagh"

Last month, a bench of Justices SK Kaul & KM Joseph had issued notice on petitions seeking the clearance of the ongoing protests against CAA-NRC at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi.

"There cannot be indefinite protests in a common area. If everybody starts protesting everywhere, what will happen?" the bench had remarked.

Subsequently, the court had appointed a mediation team headed by Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde to hold talks with the protesters and interlocutors reports were filed depicting the on ground situation.

In related news, A PIL was also filed in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking urgent direction for immediate dispersal of Shaheen Bagh protesters or any other such sites in view of corona virus threat yesterday.

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