As the petition against the Shaheen Bagh protest comes up for hearing before the Supreme Court, former chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities Wajahat Habibullah has filed an affidavit setting the record straight on how it is not Shaheen Bagh protesters but actions and decisions of the Delhi Police that are causing ‘inconvenience’ to the general public.
In his submission Habibullah who accompanied SC appointed interlocutors Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran to the protest site at Shaheen Bagh on February 19, says, that the protest is and has always been peaceful. Explaining the choice of venue he says the protest site was chosen as “it is flanked on both sides by Shaheen Bagh colony (where a large number of them reside) and therefore chances of the threatened attacks on them are considerably less that they would have been if the protest had been held at any place away from the present site.”
He goes on to state that during his visit he inspected several barricades put up by the police at a great distance from the protest site and says that it was these unnecessary barricades that were causing the traffic related inconvenience. He says, “I noticed that there are numerous number of roads that have no connection with the protest that have been barricaded by the police unnecessarily, abdicating their responsibilities and duties and wrongly laying the blame on the protest.”
He then goes on to list these roads; 40 ft road parallel to GD Birla Road, 40 ft road as well as main road leading to Jamia Millia Islamia, New Friends Colony, maharani Bagh, Sukhdev Vihar etc., from the round-about at Kalindi Kunj metro station, access to Okhla via Okhla Barrage road, access from Noida on the Greater Noida Expressway (blocked by UP Police) and access from Akhardham Temple on Yamuna Bridge (blocked by UP Police) near sector 37 Noida. He says that if the unnecessary barricades are removed the “chaos complained of in the petition would cease.”
Habibullah reiterates in his petition that Shaheen Bagh protesters belong to different faiths and that there is a strong bond between them. He also says that protesters have been facing threats to their lives. The affidavit also points out that none of the residents or shopkeepers in the area have raised any objection to the protest as they empathise with the protesters. He concludes by saying, “Shaheen Bagh stands tall as a firm example of peaceful dignified dissent.”
The entire affidavit may be read here:
