Shaheen Bagh: SC-Appointed Mediators To Meet Protesters Today
New Delhi: Senior Supreme Court lawyers Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran appointed as mediators by the Supreme Court on Monday, are likely to meet the Shaheen Bagh protesters agitating against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The two SC-appointed interlocutors are likely to initiate a dialogue with them on opening shifting their venue of protest. Shaheen Bagh is on the arterial road linking NOIDA in the national capital.
On Monday, Justices Sanjay Kaul and KM Joseph had also asked the Delhi Police to offer the anti-CAA protesters at Shaheen Bagh an alternative site to protest. The apex court had earlier said that though the right to protest is a fundamental right, people cannot cause inconvenience to others and block a public road indefinitely.
In the earlier hearing, the Supreme Court had declined to pass an interim order on petitions for removal of anti-CAA protesters from Shaheen Bagh which has become the epicentre of anti-CAA demonstrations in Delhi for 66 days.
Chennai, Bengaluru Anti-CAA Protests
Meanwhile, similar protests have broken out in the Old Washermanpet area of Chennai, and at the Tannery road in Bengaluru. In Chennai, demonstrators, including large groups of women, have been staging a protest against the contentious CAA for 6 days. The Old Washermanpet protest, being described as the Shaheen Bagh of Chennai, was marred by clashes with police personnel in which some demonstrators were injured. Police personnel including the Joint Commissioner of Chennai Police, B. Vijayakumari, suffered injuries in stone pelting.
The DMK and Congress have criticised police action on the demonstrators at Old Washermanpet. DMK supremo sought action against erring policemen.
In Bengaluru, hundreds of women have been staging a protest against the CAA at the Tannery road adjacent to Masjid-E-Hazrath Bilal in Pillai garden area, for nine days. Bollywood actor, Naseeruddin Shah, historian, Ramachandra Guha and Gujarat MLA, Jignesh Mevani, were among those who addressed the protesters and expressed their solidarity with them.