Right to protest cannot be anytime, everywhere, says Supreme Court

New Delhi: The right to protest and express dissent comes with an obligation to have certain duties and cannot be held "anytime and everywhere", the Supreme Court said in an order on Saturday, dismissing a review petition on the anti-CAA agitations held at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh in 2019.

The top court said there may be some spontaneous protests but in case of prolonged dissent or protest, there cannot be continued occupation of public place affecting the rights of others.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Aniruddha Bose and Krishna Murari said: "We have perused the review petition and record of the civil appeal and are convinced that the order of which review has been sought, does not suffer from any error apparent warranting its reconsideration."

The bench, which has passed the order recently, said it has considered the earlier judicial pronouncements and recorded its opinion that the Constitutional scheme comes with a right to protest and express dissent but with an obligation to have certain duties.

"The right to protest cannot be anytime and everywhere. There may be some spontaneous protests but in case of prolonged dissent or protest, there cannot be continued occupation of public place affecting the rights of others," the bench said while dismissing a plea by one Shaheen Bagh resident Kaniz Fatima and others seeking review of last year's verdict of October 7.

The Apex Court had on October 7, last year held that public spaces cannot be occupied indefinitely and demonstrations expressing dissent have to be in designated places alone.

The Apex Court's verdict had come on a plea by lawyer Amit Sahni against the blockade of a road in Shaheen Bagh area by those protesting against the CAA, which aimed to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

It had held that the protest at Shaheen Bagh was a blockage of a public way which caused grave inconvenience to commuters.