'Understand the suffering': Two days after HC directive, appeal from Delhi police to Shaheen Bagh protesters

Delhi Police on Friday appealed to protesters in South East Delhi's Shaheen Bagh area to clear the road that has been occupied by locals, sitting on agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC). 

This comes two days after the Delhi High Court directed the police to review the restrictions on the imposed along the road and keep in mind larger public interest as well as maintenance of law and order.

"We appeal to agitators at Road No. 13 A Shaheen Bagh to understand the sufferings that the complete highway blockade is causing to residents of Delhi & NCR, Senior Citizens, emergency patients and school going children. The matter has also come up before the Hon'ble High Court," Delhi Police said in a tweet. 

"We again urge protesters to cooperate and clear the road in larger public interest," the city police tweeted. 

The Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch of road no. 13 A in the national capital has been closed since December 15 last year after protesters occupied the road following the police action on Jamia Millia Islamia students on the campus.

The protest, led by women, has become an inspiration across the country with similar protests erupting in various cities as part of a larger movement against the CAA-NRC.  

The new law promises citizenship to members of 6 non-Muslim communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who entered India before December 31, 2014. Massive protests have erupted across the country against the new law. 

Traffic was then diverted to other routes which caused troubles to people commuting to and from Noida. While it was said to be a temporary measure, the traffic police extended it due to continuous protests.

Earlier this week, the high court had refused to pass a direct order but had instead asked the traffic police to review the restrictions on the imposed along the road. 

Hearing a petition that sought to withdraw the closure as it was causing inconvenience to commuters, the court directed the police to keep in mind larger public interest as well as maintenance of law and order.

"...while taking a decision on the representation of the petitioner shall also consider the plight of the students who have to travel to schools and also have the Board Examination," a Delhi High Court bench of Justice Navis Chawla said in the direction issued to the police. 

Hearing another plea last week, the High Court had refused to entertain a petition which demanded that police barricades at the Shaheen Bagh protest site be removed.

The petitioner's argument was that the barricades put in place in and around the Shaheen Bagh protest site were disrupting traffic and causing trouble to several daily commuters. 

Massive protests have erupted across the country against the new citizenship law. Critics say that the new law is against the secular nature of the Indian Constitution and clubbed with the NRC may be misused to strip away some Muslims' citizenship in the country. The BJP, however, has argued that the law has nothing to do with India's Muslims and only helps those who fled religious persecution in the neighbouring countries.