Wajahat: Police to blame for Shaheen Bagh hassle

In affidavit to SC, ex-CIC claims barricades hampering traffic

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New Delhi, February 23

Former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah has told the Supreme Court that the protest at Shaheen Bagh here against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was peaceful and the inconvenience being caused to commuters was due to the barricades “unnecessarily” put up by the police on roads far away from the site.

The same stand has been taken by social activist Syed Bahadur Abbas Naqvi and Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad in their joint affidavit filed in the apex court in the matter.

Habibullah, Azad and Naqvi have jointly filed an application in the apex court which is seized of the matter.

Habibullah had visited the protest site at Shaheen Bagh pursuant to the direction by a bench of Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph. The bench is scheduled to hear the matter on Monday.

The top court is hearing pleas seeking removal of protesters from Shaheen Bagh and ensuring smooth traffic flow in the area.

The apex court had earlier said that though people have a fundamental right to protest “peacefully and lawfully”, it was troubled by the blocking of a public road at Shaheen Bagh as it might lead to a “chaotic situation”.

In his affidavit filed in the top court, Habibullah has contended that “Shaheen Bagh stands tall as a firm example of peaceful dignified dissent, more so in the face of various instances of state-sponsored violence on similar dissents across India.

“We have been sad and mute witnesses to police brutality and negative typecasting of a particular community across the country. Crushing dissent instead of entering into a dialogue is the new norm, but it is alien to our Constitution,” he has claimed.

Habibullah has also stated that the protesters have asked him to convey to the apex court that their dissent “was out of desperation and compulsion” as they see the CAA, National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) as a “death knell” for their and future generations’ survival and existence. — PTI