SC appoints a lawyer, former top bureaucrat to talk to Shaheen Bagh protestors for their shifting

New Delhi : A senior advocate and a former top bureaucrat have been chosen by the Supreme Court to talk to protesters who are on a sit-in for over two months in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA. Senior advocate Sanjay Hedge and former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah will meet the protesters and try to persuade them to continue their agitation in another location so that commuters are not hassled due to road diversions and blockades. “Right to protest is a fundamental right. What is the alternative area they can continue the protests without blocking the road?” the Supreme Court said.
To this, the Delhi Police’s lawyer replied, “They can choose a place.”
Hundreds of people have set up camp and dug in on a stretch of road in south Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh for over two months now; commuters say the barricades put up by the police around Shaheen Bagh have made their daily run longer and tedious, with frequent traffic jams.
“There are lines and boundaries. You want to protest. No problem. But tomorrow another section of society may hold protests in another area… There must be some method so that traffic flow is free,” the Supreme Court said. “Our concern is if everyone starts blocking roads, where will people go?