Youth Congress Moves Delhi HC Over Denied Permission for Jantar Mantar Protest
The Indian Youth Congress moved the Delhi High Court on Saturday to challenge a decision by the Delhi Police refusing permission to hold a peaceful demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. The youth wing asserted that administrative authorities cannot prohibit peaceful assemblies under the pretext of regulating them.
Filed through the organisation's legal department by Indian Youth Congress president Uday Bhanu Chib, the petition challenges an order issued by the Delhi Police on October 1. That order formally rejected the outfit's request to convene a gathering of approximately 100 to 150 people at the designated protest site.
According to the plea, the youth organisation had initially applied for official permission on September 25. In its initial application, the group had given formal undertakings to adhere strictly to all lawful conditions concerning security, traffic flow, discipline, and the maintenance of public order during the demonstration.
The petitioner alleged that despite repeated follow-ups with the authorities after submitting the application, the police communication rejecting the demonstration was delivered only on October 1. The organisation noted that this rejection arrived on the very date originally scheduled for the commencement of the programme.
In its petition before the high court, the organisation contended that the decision was taken without due application of mind and lacked an individualised, proportionate assessment of the proposed gathering. The plea argued that law enforcement authorities cannot convert their statutory power to regulate peaceful assembly into an outright power of prohibition.
The petition specifically invokes constitutional safeguards under Article 14, Article 19(1)(a), and Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution of India. It challenges the police department's rejection as a mechanical application of protest guidelines that infringes upon fundamental freedoms of speech and peaceful assembly.
