CJP protest: SC to hear plea seeking contempt action against Home Secretary, DMRC on metro, train closure

The Supreme Court will hear on Sunday a contempt petition alleging wilful disobedience of its October 9 order against a complete shutdown of metro and train services ahead of CJP protests at Jantar Mantar on Saturday.

The plea seeks initiation of contempt proceedings against authorities for allegedly violating the court's direction on ensuring that there is no "complete prohibition" of public transport services due to CJP's protest in Delhi.

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A bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana will hear the matter on October 11 at 10.30 am, according to the cause list of Sunday uploaded on the apex court website

The plea has sought contempt proceedings against the Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation chairperson D Thara, alleging that gates at 45 Metro stations remained closed as announced.

Earlier on Friday, the apex court asked the government to take corrective steps on the proposed closure of entry gates at Delhi Metro stations and roads surrounding the national capital on October 10, saying restrictions must take into account the difficulties faced by commuters travelling to the Delhi from the NCR. The court said they cannot bring everything to a halt.

"This brutal assault on the fundamental rights of the citizens and sheer disregard to the orders of this court amounts to deliberate, intentional attempt on the part of Delhi Metro, Delhi Police and the Union government which must be dealt with an iron hand," the plea, filed through advocate Chand Qureshi, said.

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and some student organisations had called for a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission, demanding his resignation.

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Delhi Metro closed 45 stations from 9 pm on Friday till 10 pm on Saturday for security reasons.

The contempt plea, filed in the Supreme Court, said notwithstanding the solemn judicial mandate and the assurance recorded before the top court, the authorities have "consciously maintained a blanket shutdown across transit corridors, persisted with unwarranted train cancellations, and failed to issue or publicize transparent traffic and transit advisories".

"This deliberate recalcitrance has severely crippled public life across the National Capital Territory, stranding essential travellers, and amounts to an intentional attempt to bypass and undermine the authority and majesty of this court," it submitted.

The plea mentioned that the petitioner was directly affected with the "arbitrary closure" of metro stations/gates of metro stations in Delhi.

Also read: 45 Delhi Metro stations to remain closed till 10 PM amid CJP protests in national capital

According to the plea, the petitioner had personally visited at least two metro stations, GTB Nagar and Vishwavidyalaya , about 9.30 pm on Friday and found that entry gates were completely closed and exit gates were being manually regulated.

"The instant contempt petition needs immediate intervention of this court because there is the blatant violations of the orders passed on October 9 by this court, by closing the entry and exit gates of Delhi Metro in-spite of the clear and unambiguous order of this court that only regulatory measures can be taken to regulate the crowd and it can't be a preventive step," the plea said.