Stalemate On Shaheen Bagh Continues As SC Mediator Meets Protesters Again

New Delhi: Senior Supreme lawyer, Sadhana Ramachandran, one of the Supreme Court-appointed mediators to discuss the issue of holding the Shaheen Bagh protest at an alternative site, began the fourth round of mediation with the demonstrators on Saturday. Shaheen Bagh, on the arterial road linking NOIDA to the national capital, has been the epicentre of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) demonstrations for more than two months now.

The Supreme Court is hearing a PIL on the inconvenience being caused to others on account of the Shaheen Bagh protest and appointed senior advocates, Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran, as interlocutors to discuss the issue of holding the protest at an alternative site with the demonstrators.

Sadhana Ramachandran on Saturday told large groups of women demonstrating at ShaheenBagh that as mediators they are not asking them to give up their agitation. Their mandate is simply to discuss the issue of getting the road cleared. She also told the demonstrators that they are free to meet the Home Minister and clarified that they did not represent the government.

The interlocutors appointed by the Supreme Court, senior lawyers, Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran, have held three rounds of discussions with the Shaheen Bagh protesters earlier. However, they have had no success so far in persuading the demonstrators to move to an alternative site of protest where no public place faces obstruction.

The Supreme Court had, on February 17, had suggested that the Shaheen Bagh protesters move their demonstration to an alternative site in view of the inconvenience caused by the blockade of the road. However, it recognised their right to protest.

The mediators appointed by the apex court also called Delhi Police Ato the spot for discussions with the protestors.