Delhi
Metro shutdown explained: Why the Supreme Court intervened
The Supreme Court said on October 9 that Delhi’s Metro and trains cannot be shut down entirely ahead of the CJP protest, while allowing regulated movement; on October 10 entry and exit were limited at 45 Metro stations and mobile internet was cut near Kartavya Path.
Petitioners challenged the closure of 57 Metro stations and the cancellation of long-distance trains.
The court said that an entire city cannot be shut down because of protests.
It cited commuters from Gurugram, Greater Noida and other NCR towns.
It allowed regulated movement and did not strike down the restrictions.
The Solicitor General said an alternative protest site would be considered.
It directed the authorities to give due publicity to their decisions on Metro and railway services and to issue a traffic advisory.
It said that restrictions must be proportionate and must not cause undue hardship to the public, according to Bar and Bench.
The court said that an entire city cannot be shut down because of protests, according to The Quint.
It cited the thousands of commuters who travel every day from Gurugram, Greater Noida and other parts of the NCR to Delhi for work and education.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta defended the measures as meant to maintain law and order.
The Solicitor General told the bench that the competent authority would consider designating a place other than Jantar Mantar for peaceful protests.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi and Prashant Bhushan argued against the restrictions, and Singhvi said that preventive measures of this scale could not be justified when no incident had occurred.
The order does not strike down the restrictions outright, and authorities can still regulate the movement of Metro and trains.
On October 10, entry and exit were limited at 45 Metro stations until 6 pm, and interchange was available everywhere except at New Delhi station, according to Careerindia.
About 45 stations had been closed from 9 pm on October 9 for security reasons, according to ThePrint.
Mobile internet was shut within a four-kilometre radius of Janpath and Kartavya Path from 10 pm on October 9 to 10 pm on October 10, according to Careerindia.
Delhi Metro station (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0