On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that there could not be a ‘blanket ban’ on protests taking place in Jantar Mantar and Boat Club. The Delhi Police were directed to to set up rules to allow protests again in the two spots.
Protests had been banned last year by the National Green Tribunal. the ban was challenged protest groups like Mazdoor Kissan Shakti Sangatan, the ex-servicemen movement and others, citing it to be their “fundamental right”.
“We have to balance the interests of the protesters,” the court said.
Earlier, on July 4, Chief Justice of India Deepak Mishra said Cow vigilantism was not acceptable and it was the responsibility of the states to prevent this. The Supreme Court also warned against linking religion to mob violence saying, ‘a victim is a victim’.
“Nobody can take law into their own hands. It is the obligation of the state’s to see these incidents are prevented,” the SC stated.
The three-judge bench also dubbed cow vigilantism as mob violence, but reserved its verdict on compensation to victims and fixing responsibility.