Protests creating traffic snarls? No problem, it must go on, says SC

The Supreme court observed on Thursday that even if a protest is causing traffic blocks, it must go on and cannot be stopped as every citizen has the right to protest in a democracy, according to TNIE.

The SC made this observation during a hearing of a PIL seeking a direction to the Union government to ensure that people's lives are not effected during an agitation or protest.

Scheduling the next hearing after 8 weeks, the court also said that since traffic was a state subject, the Centre cannot do much about it. But it asked the Union government to come up with suggestions for dealling with agitations better.

According to the media report, the petition was filed by former UP DGP Prakash Singh after the 2011 Manipur blockade leading to scarcity of essential commodities. He had sought that the persons responsibile for organising the blockade be fined heavily and booked on relevent charges.