SC hearing tomorrow on contempt plea against Delhi Police, Metro for protest curbs

New Delhi, October 10 (IANS): The Supreme Court is likely to hold a special sitting on Sunday to hear a contempt petition alleging the blanket closure of Delhi Metro stations and train services in Delhi to prevent the gathering of anti-Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) protesters amounted to violation of the Court's order.

A bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana are expected to hold the special hearing, a lawyer said.

The petition, filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi, has sought initiation of contempt proceedings against the Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Chairperson D. Thara for allegedly failing to comply with the directions issued by the apex court.

The petitioner alleged that despite the Supreme Court's categorical direction against a complete prohibition on Metro services, entry and exit gates at several Metro stations remained closed and train services continued to be cancelled or curtailed, causing inconvenience to commuters and disrupting public life in Delhi.

According to the plea, the DMRC had announced the closure of entry and exit gates at 45 Metro stations in the national capital.

Tripathi claimed that he visited GTB Nagar and Vishwavidyalaya Metro stations at around 9:30 p.m. and found their entry gates shut.

He has also claimed to have recorded the locked Metro gates on video.

The petition alleged that authorities failed to adequately publicise revised travel arrangements and continued to impose restrictions on public transport despite the Supreme Court's directions.

Referring to his visit to Jantar Mantar at around 8:30 p.m., the petitioner claimed that only police and paramilitary personnel were present at the protest site and that no protesters were there at the time.

The plea contended that the alleged non-compliance with the apex court's directions had crippled public life in the national capital and sought immediate withdrawal of blanket restrictions on Metro and other railway services.

The contempt petition follows the Supreme Court's order passed on Friday, in which a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana directed that there should be no complete stoppage of Metro train services ahead of the proposed protest.