The Supreme Court will on Monday hear a case to stop involvement of children and infants in demonstrations. The court had taken suo moto cognizance of the issue after the death of an infant in Shaheen Bagh, where protests are being held for almost two months over Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA.
The issue would be taken up by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde.
A four-month-old baby had passed away in his sleep on the night of January 30 after returning from Shaheen Bagh where his parents had taken him during the anti-CAA protest.
A 12-year-old National Bravery Award winner had written a letter to the CJI seeking directions to prevent children from participating in demonstrations as it “amounts to cruelty”. Zen Gunratan Sadavarte, a recipient of the 2019 Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) National Bravery Award, had said in her letter that the parents of the baby and the organisers of the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh had “failed” to protect the rights of the kid, resulting in his death.
Sadavarte had helped in evacuation operation during the fire that broke out in Mumbai’s Crystal Tower in August 2018. She guided 17 people to safety.
The Supreme Court had said on Friday that it would hear the petitions seeking removal of anti-CAA protesters from Shaheen Bagh on February 10, after the Delhi Assembly elections as it did not want to “influence” the polls.
“We understand there is a problem and we have to see how to resolve it. We will take it up on Monday. We will be in a better position by then,” a bench comprising justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph had said.
Advocate Amit Sahni, who has filed an appeal in the apex court against the January 14 order of the Delhi High Court directing the police to deal with the situation keeping in mind law and order, said that due to the protests since December 15 last year traffic flow on Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch has been badly affected.
Restrictions have been imposed on the stretch as also the Okhla underpass due to protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).The plea sought laying down of comprehensive and exhaustive guidelines relating to outright restrictions for holding protests or agitations leading to obstruction of public place.
