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Amit Sahni v. Commissioner of Police & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2020 INSC 579Decided 7 Oct 2020
Civil Appeal No. 3282 of 2020
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul · Justice Aniruddha Bose · Justice Krishna Murari

Background

This case arose from the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi, where demonstrators opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 occupied and blocked a public road (the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch, including the Okhla underpass) for an extended period starting December 2019. A petition was earlier filed in the Delhi High Court seeking removal of the blockade, and the Supreme Court had appointed interlocutors to negotiate with the protestors and find an alternative protest site. The petitioner, Amit Sahni, appealed to the Supreme Court after the High Court's handling of the matter, seeking a clear ruling on whether such indefinite occupation of a public road was lawful.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that while citizens have a fundamental right to peaceful protest and dissent, including against government legislation, this right must be balanced against the rights of other citizens to move freely and use public spaces. Protests cannot take the form of indefinite occupation of public roads in a manner that causes ongoing inconvenience to commuters and the general public; such demonstrations must be confined to designated areas. The Court held that the administration has a duty to keep public ways clear of such obstructions and should not need to rely on repeated court intervention to act. It closed the proceedings, disposing of the appeal and declining to award costs.

Lesson Learnt

The constitutional right to protest does not include an unlimited right to occupy and block public roads indefinitely: protestors can be lawfully required to demonstrate in a designated manner and place that does not infringe on the public's right to move freely.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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