Protests are prohibited here! Questions raised on removal of Jantar Mantar from the list of protest sites

Delhi's Jantar Mantar, which has been the center of movements across the country for nearly three and a half decades, is no longer the designated place for protests.

Instead, the government has determined three places. These are- Ramlila Maidan, Burari Maidan and CBD Maidan of East Delhi.

This decision of the government has come at a time when the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) had approached the Parliament Street police station on Monday to seek permission to protest at Jantar Mantar.

Even before this, a statement was issued by Delhi Police Commissioner informing about removal of Jantar Mantar from the designated place for protest.

However, CJP has termed the government's latest decision as unacceptable and termed it 'an attack on people's fundamental right to protest and assemble peacefully'.

CJP's Saurav Das has said that he has given a 24-hour ultimatum to Delhi Police to allow the demonstration.

Jantar Mantar Cantonment has been in existence since last two October due to the demand of resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and cancellation of Special Intensive Revision Campaign i.e. SIR in the voter list.

After the CJP demonstration on October 10, during the hearing in the Supreme Court, the petitioners had demanded that permission should be given for a peaceful demonstration at the designated place.

Earlier, a huge crowd had gathered at Jantar Mantar for the removal of the then Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the paper leak case and on July 20, during the Parliament march, there were large-scale clashes and violence between the police and protesters.

This time when CJP announced a protest demanding the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar and leftist student organizations and opposition alliance India Block had talked about running a movement from October 2 to 10, after which Jantar Mantar was completely closed.

Delhi Police has issued new guidelines for protests in the capital.

According to the standing order issued by Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar on October 11, "The Union Home Ministry had constituted a committee to review alternative venues for protests. The new arrangement has been implemented on the basis of the recommendations of the committee."

The latest order said that the committee has recommended notifying Ramlila Maidan, Burari Maidan and CBD Maidan in East Delhi as new places for protests.

It said, "Detailed and revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for organizing protests at these three places will be issued separately. This is a partial amendment to the earlier Standing Order No. L&O/48/22 issued on 28 April 2022."

These three places are in different parts of Delhi. With these decided, the demonstrations will now be away from the central administrative area around the Parliament. Ramlila Maidan is in the center of Delhi, while Burari Maidan is in North-West Delhi and CBD Maidan is in East Delhi.

Ramlila Maidan is about 3 kilometers away from Jantar Mantar. Because of this it is closer to Jantar Mantar than the other two places. Burari ground is about 21 kilometers away from Jantar Mantar, while CBD ground is 13 kilometers away from it.

Ramlila Maidan has a long history of political rallies and mass movements. These include the rally of Jayaprakash Narayan in 1975 and the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare in 2011. Whereas Burari Maidan came into limelight when during the farmers' movement in 2020, the agitators were asked by the government to go there.

CJP has given a sharp reaction to the latest decision of the Union Home Ministry.

CJP founder Abhijit Deepke has called this a dictatorial step and said, "Today Modi removed Jantar Mantar from the list of designated sites for protests. Tomorrow he will remove democracy itself from the list."

"The problem with the dictator was never a place for protest. The problem was with the idea of ​​people protesting."

The team of Neha Bora, leader of the leftist student organization AISA, which has been protesting for the past several days, wrote on X, "We will fight for our Jantar Mantar! It is not just a place, but the voice of the people. And our voice will not be suppressed!"

Calling it unacceptable, CJP co-convenor Saurav Das wrote on Twitter, "Why is Narendra Modi afraid of Jantar Mantar? Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. Did the Union Home Ministry consult the people of India? Were discussions held with any stakeholders? Were any organizations consulted?"

"Take it in writing, just as he is removing people's Jantar Mantar from the list of designated places for protests, in the same way the Prime Minister will soon remove democracy from India. This step has been taken in the same direction."

Saurav Das further wrote, "We do not accept this arbitrary decision. This is an attack on the fundamental right of the people to protest and assemble peacefully. Now the entire country is becoming Jantar Mantar!"

Ratna Singh, head of CJP's legal cell, wrote on Twitter, "Jantar Mantar scheme everywhere! People come to Delhi to protest at Jantar Mantar, but in response the government removes the same place from the list of protest sites. Earlier it was a game of getting permission. Now when people are asking for a place to raise their voice, the very place of protest is being taken away from them."

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan wrote on Twitter, "It is clear that the government wants to send the protests to the outskirts of Delhi. They will not even allow large demonstrations at Ramlila Maidan. This is malicious and illegal."

"They cannot decide the place for protests. It is a fundamental right of the people to assemble peacefully and protest. The government cannot confine people only to 'designated places'."

Senior journalist Tribhuvan had written an article for BBC on the history of Jantar Mantar. According to him, from the late 1960s to the 1980s, the Boat Club was the center of India's largest democratic voice.

In the period after 1993, amid increasing political tension, protests started being shifted from Rajpath (now Dutva Path) to other places and at the same time Jantar Mantar emerged as a middle path. It was near the Parliament House, but not too close; In front of everyone, but worth keeping under control.

Referring to Delhi Police Standing Order No. 309 of January 31, 2003, the Central Government had told the Lok Sabha in 2015 that there should not be a gathering of more than five thousand people at Jantar Mantar and vehicles of protesters are not allowed there.

Their study, based on Sansad Marg police station records, found that at least 13,118 dharnas and 5,491 demonstrations, rallies and processions took place at Jantar Mantar between January 2006 and August 2010.

In the first eight months of 2010 alone, about 1.5 lakh people participated in various demonstrations and more than 12 thousand people were detained for violating the law.

Jantar Mantar is especially remembered for some movements, such as the Narmada Bachao Andolan of the 1990s, the Anna Hazare movement of 2011, the Nirbhaya movement in 2012, the No Rank and Forest Pension movement in 2015, the Tamil Nadu farmers' movement in 2017, etc.

After this, in October 2017 itself, the National Green Tribunal ordered to stop the protests at Jantar Mantar and shift them to Ramlila Maidan.

The matter reached the Supreme Court and on July 23, 2018, in the case of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan vs Union of India, the Court emphasized the balance between the constitutional right to peaceful assembly and the rights of residents.

The Court said that the democratic capital cannot be turned into a permanent fort of prohibition; But freedom of protest is also not a license to destroy the lives of other citizens indefinitely.