WEB DESK / NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors have expressed disappointment over the decision of the Police to re-barricade Noida-Faridabad road after brief opening Friday morning. The road, more than 3 kilometer from the Shaheen Bagh protest site, was opened briefly Friday morning after 69 days of its closure by the police.
“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 police,” said senior lawyers of Supreme Court Sanjay Hegde and Sadhna Ramachandran, who were appointed by the top court on Monday to talk to Shaheen Bagh protesters for clearance of the road blockade.
The two lawyers visited the protest site on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and talked to the protesters who have been holding a round-the-clock sit-in since December 15 against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
“Today was the third day of tour interaction with the protestors at Shaheen Bagh. Because we were at closer proximity with the protestors we could get a good sense of their anxiety, their pain, their fears particularly with regard to their security,” they said in a statement late Friday night.
The protesters told the mediators that they have no objection if the non-protest side of the Shaheen Bagh road is opened but the police will have to take responsibility for their security.
“Opening of one way of the road which was not originally blocked by the protestors was discussed as a first step. The protestors clarified again that the blockade on the non-protest side had originally been imposed by the Delhi police and not by them. However, later the protestors felt that the closed non – protest part of the road would ensure their security especially in the light of some incidents of attempted firing upon them earlier. In principle the protestors 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 Supreme Court,” the mediators said in the statement.
They announced that they would not visit the protest site on Saturday “to enable the protestors to come to an independent conclusion as to the way forward.” But they will return on Sunday “only if we deem it necessary and feasible to do so.”
The SC-appointed mediators thanked the protestors and the organisers and the volunteers “for their disciplined interaction.” They also thanked the media “for its discipline and restraint in filming our interaction with the protestors.”
Statement issued by mediators appointed by Supreme Court for Shaheen bagh on 21/ 2 /20
” Today was the third day of our interaction with the protestors at Shaheen bagh. Because we were at closer proximity with the protestors we could get a good sense of their anxiety, their pain, their fears particularly with regard to their security.
Opening of one way of the road which was not originally blocked by the protestors was discussed as a first step. The protestors clarified again that the blockade on the non – protest side had originally been imposed by the Delhi police and not by them. However, later the protestors felt that the closed non – protest part of the road would ensure their security especially in the light of some incidents of attempted firing upon them earlier.
In principle, the protestors were not fundamentally against the 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 Supreme 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 police.
We wish to thank the protestors and the organisers and the volunteers for their disciplined interaction today. We also wish to thank the media for it’s discipline and restraint in filming our interaction with the protestors.
We will not be holding a public interaction tomorrow to enable the protestors to come to an independent conclusion as to the way forward. We will return on Sunday only if we deem it necessary and feasable to do so”.