Delhi HC refuses to stop CJP's October 16 protest at Connaught Place

• Delhi High Court refuses to restrain the Cockroach Janta Party from holding its 16 October protest at Connaught Place.

• Police assure the court that all necessary steps will be taken to regulate the protest and prevent disruption.

• A vendor warns that demonstrations during the festive season could hurt businesses in Connaught Place and Palika Bazar.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to restrain the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, from holding a protest at Central Park in Connaught Place on 16 October, while recording the police's assurance that all necessary steps would be taken to regulate the demonstration.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma was hearing a petition filed by a Connaught Place vendor seeking directions to the police to regulate the proposed protest in accordance with the law and Supreme Court guidelines.

Additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma told the court that steps had already been taken to control the CJP's activities and assured it that the petitioner's concerns would be addressed. The court recorded the assurance in its order.

The bench said the authorities would take all possible steps in accordance with the law, if required, to regulate the protest. It listed the matter for further hearing on 3 November.

The petitioner's senior counsel urged the court to issue a specific direction restraining the party. The bench declined, saying, “Don't insist. We have passed the order.”

Senior advocate Sachhin Puri, appearing for a licensed street vendor who sells readymade garments at Palika Bazar, argued that Central Park was not a designated protest site and that a demonstration there could affect traders and vendors during the festive season.

The petitioner, Anil Kumar Gupta, said in his public interest litigation that earlier demonstrations had disrupted business around Connaught Place and Palika Bazar. The plea alleged that a protest on 20 July had led to barricading and traffic disruption around Jantar Mantar and Parliament Street, discouraging customers from visiting the markets and causing daily losses to vendors.

The court noted that the authorities had already denotified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site and questioned why the petitioner believed the police would not take appropriate action over the proposed demonstration.

Dipke had called on people he described as “patriots” to gather at Central Park on 16 October with the national flag. He alleged that CJP members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka had been jailed for unfurling the Tricolour.

The call came after Das and Ranka were remanded to five days of judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail for allegedly violating their peace bonds and trespassing into Jantar Mantar, which has been denotified as a protest site.

Central Delhi has witnessed protests by opposition parties, student groups and civil society organisations since June-July over several issues, including the functioning of the Election Commission.

The Supreme Court has previously ruled in cases concerning protests at Shaheen Bagh and those involving the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan that demonstrations cannot obstruct traffic, office entrances or arterial roads.