The Supreme Court on Monday gave a free hand to Delhi police to deal with the farmers on Republic Day as per the powers vested upon them by the decree of law. The top court also stated that it was not the first authority on the matter, and hence would not want to interfere with what was Delhi Police’s area of jurisdiction. The Centre had filed a plea via Delhi Police, seeking an injunction against the protesting farmers’ plan to conduct a ‘tractor parade’ on January 26, arguing that the same on a day of national importance will cause great embarrassment to the country.
Stating that it is a law-and-order matter, the apex court said, “Police is first authority to decide who should be allowed to enter Delhi. We are not going to tell you what you should do. We will take up this matter on Jan 20.” The top court adjourned the matter for hearing until Wednesday due to a change in the constituents of the bench hearing the matter.
The Supreme Court on Monday subtly reminded the Delhi Police to deal with any contingency and law-and-order situation in a manner it deems fit, under the purview of the powers vested upon it, of course. The same observations came after Attorney General KK Venugopal sought orders from the top court on the tractor parade, saying that it constituted an extraordinary situation. “Does the Supreme Court say as to what are the powers of police and how they will exercise them?” the bench remarked.
Earlier, the top court had said, “Who should be allowed and the number of people to enter is all matters of law and order to be decided by the police.” Effectively, Delhi Police have received the go-ahead from the Supreme Court to decide whether the farmers should be allowed to enter Delhi on Republic Day with their tractors or not. The protestors, meanwhile, are claiming that the 50-km tractor parade will be held in the Outer Ring Road, the road encircling the national capital.
TFI on Sunday reported how outlawed separatist organisation ‘Sikhs for Justice’ had taken to threaten the Supreme Court of India and its justices like CJI Bobde to cease stopping the planned ‘tractor parade’ of farmers. “You have sided with those who had committed genocide of Sikhs and now you are siding with (Narendra) Modi government who is responsible for the genocide of Punjab Farmers. This is not 1990’s; it’s 2021 and SFJ will hold all justices accountable under the international laws,” SFJ said in a statement. Such threats have failed to work, and the Delhi Police has been given a free hand to deal with the motivated protestors.