The Delhi Police’s decision to denotify Jantar Mantar in the national capital as a site where protests can be organised has itself triggered a storm of protest over its sheer arbitrariness. The Delhi Police, which is under the Union Home Ministry, have told the Delhi High Court that Jantar Mantar was denotified as a protest site following a Supreme Court directive issued on October 9. The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant had urged the Union government to identify an alternative protest site that is spacious and open. The order was passed while hearing petitions challenging the government’s decision to restrict movement within and into the city to halt the October 10 protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Observations were also exchanged that protests in and around Jantar Mantar were a source of inconvenience for ordinary commuters. It is possible to argue that protesters cause traffic congestion and inconvenience. But those arguments are valid only as much as similar arguments that are usually raised against democracy itself. There is a reactionary view that democracy delays decision-making, elections disrupt development and economic activity, and that there should therefore be fewer elections and less politics. The BJP’s push for simultaneous elections to Parliament and State Assemblies once every five years is based on the same logic, that at its heart questions the legitimacy of democracy itself. The argument against protests at Jantar Mantar does not hold water. It is antithetical to the concept of public deliberation and protest, which are central to democracy.
A centrally located site of protest is part of the urban space in most democracies, as in Washington DC and London. Public protesters are usually marginal groups who lack representation at the decision-making table. Street protest is actually an outcome of their lack of power, and an instrument for people with no other way of being heard. To keep them far away from the seat of power and render them invisible is a violent police argument against their very attempt to be heard and seen. The reason why a protester wants to be in Jantar Mantar is its proximity to the centre of power — it is located close to the Parliament complex, and the President’s Estate. If, in the name of public order, they are pushed far away into the margins of the city, as is now being sought, it is equivalent to keeping them trapped in the very situation they are trying to escape. If protests can happen only far away from the seat of power, the logic can easily be extended to argue that people must stay at home and protest. That is not how a democracy works.
Published - October 16, 2026 12:20 am IST