New Delhi: The Shaheen Bagh protesters told the Supreme Court appointed interlocutors on Friday that if the road parallel to the anti-CAA protest site was opened, the apex court should pass an order ensuring their security.
Senior advocates Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran as interlocutors began the third day of their discussion with the protesters on Friday evening.
The road which connects Noida to south east Delhi and further to Faridabad in Haryana, was closed for traffic in the wake of the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protest at Shaheen Bagh since December 15.
“Only emergency vehicles like ambulances and school buses are being allowed to pass through the stretch”, the police said.
“When several adjoining roads are open, why are they insisting us to move from this road? This is not the only road connecting Delhi to Noida,” a woman protester told the interlocutors.
Another woman protester said, “We want in writing that if there is a single incident of attack or firing, the police officials, from the SHO to the police commissioner, should be shunted out. Home Minister Amit Shah has said the NRC is not coming soon, so ask him to issue a circular, saying they are not bringing the NRC now. We want the Supreme Court to pass an order on our security if the road adjoining the protest site is opened.”
“We barricaded the parallel road to ensure security to the protest site. If the road is opened to commuters, we will ensure double security to the protesters,” the police official said.
“The restrictions are a conscious decision of the Noida Police and are continuing as it is”, Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh S said. He added, “The day the Delhi Police decides to lift the restrictions, we will also do it on our side”.
Hegde said, “The protesters, in principle, were not fundamentally against opening of the non-protest side of the road if their security could be guaranteed in writing by the Delhi Police under suitable orders of the apex court”.
“This morning we were very happy about the opening of the Noida-Faridabad road by the police. This brought substantial relief to the Faridabad commuters. However, we were informed that soon thereafter the road was again barricaded by the police for no apparent reason. This was extremely distressing to us and we wish to emphasize that the action of re-barricading the roads defeats the very purpose of confidence-building on the part of the police,” he added.