Wajahat Habibullah to meet SC-appointed interlocutors today, to persuade Shaheen Bagh protesters to clear road

Former Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Wajahat Habibullah on Wednesday will meet interlocutors who have been appointed by the Supreme Court to talk to protesters at Shaheen Bagh area and to convince them to hold the agitation at an alternative site.

"I am going to meet SC appointed interlocutors today. We will discuss in detail about what to do and how to do it. The main issue is that people should not suffer due to the protest in Shaheen Bagh. Firstly we will go to Shaheen Bagh and then we will decide. We have to visit Shaheen Bagh to have a direct conversation with protestors," Habibullah said.

"It is not in the jurisdiction of the panel to mediate on the cause of their protest. The panel will talk to the protestors to shift their protest to some another place," he said.

The Supreme Court on Monday had appointed senior lawyers Sanjay Hegde, and Sadhna Ramachandran to go and talk to protesters at Shaheen Bagh area to convince them to hold the agitation at an alternative site.

The apex court has fixed the matter for further hearing on February 24.

The Shaheen Bagh area of Delhi had lately gained nationwide attention due to a continued anti-CAA sit-in by people, especially Muslim women against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register and National Register of Citizens.

The PIL, filed by Nand Kishore Garg and Amit Sahni through their lawyer Shashank Deo Sudhi earlier last week, sought appropriate directions to the Centre and others for removal of protestors from Shaheen Bagh near Kalindi Kunj.

It stated that people in Shaheen Bagh are illegally protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019, by blocking the common and public road connecting Delhi to Noida.

The petition seeks appropriate direction to the respondents, including the Union of India (UOI) for laying down detailed, comprehensive and exhaustive guidelines relating to outright restrictions for holding protest/agitation leading to obstruction of the public place.