Delhi HC refuses to stop today’s CJP stir
In Short
The court took on record the Delhi Police's assurance that it would take "all possible measures under the law" to regulate and control the gathering.
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Delhi HC refuses to stop today’s CJP stir
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to restrain the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), led by its founder Abhijeet Dipke, from holding a protest at Central Park in Connaught Place on Friday. The court took on record the Delhi Police's assurance that it would take "all possible measures under the law" to regulate and control the gathering.
This comes days after the police detained hundreds who intended to go to the Jantar Mantar road near Connaught Place for the CJP's protest call of October 10 over alleged electoral fraud. The Congress-led Opposition's INDIA bloc is also holding protests on the issue, and this week the two parallel protests against the NDA government appear to be converging. The AAP, which has largely stayed away from the INDIA bloc, has announced it'll participate in the CJP's protest, where Dipke has asked participants to carry the national flag.
The High Court's bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma was on Thursday hearing a plea by a licensed street vendor, who claimed the protest would affect the rights of traders and sought a direction to the police to regulate it in line with the law laid down by the Supreme Court. Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma appeared for the authorities and told the court that steps had already been taken to control the CJP's activities.
At a press conference, Dipke alleged that students and youth had been dragged off the streets of Delhi over the past fortnight. He said that Opposition leaders who joined them had also been detained and linked the crackdown to Prime Minister Narendra Modi "protecting" Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Dipke also noted that CJP members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka are in jail "for having raised the flag" at Jantar Mantar earlier this week; they are charged with trespass as the site was denotified as a protest venue after the CJP's original October 10 call.
