The two interlocutors appointed by the Supreme Court on Wednesday visited Shaheen Bagh to initiate talks with the protesters, asserting that the top court has upheld their right to protest but it should not affect the rights of other citizens.
Former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah could not make it, while senior lawyers Sanjay Hegde and Sadhna Ramachandran, appointed by the Supreme Court to speak to the protesters, spoke to the protesters on Wednesday.
"The Supreme Court has upheld your right to protest. But then other citizens also have their rights and it should also be maintained," Ramachandran told the crowd assembled at the spot in large numbers.
"We want to together find a solution to the problem. We will listen to everyone," she said in Hindi.
Earlier, Hegde explained the Supreme Court order to the protesters. This was translated into Hindi by Ramachandran.
The interlocutors have been assigned to hold talks with people protesting at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh area over CAA, and to convince them to shift their sit-in to an alternative site.
Hundreds of people, especially women, have been camping at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi for over two months in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, blocking an arterial road due to which the city has been facing traffic congestions. The protests at Shaheen Bagh on December 15, following the violence and police action at Jamia Millia Islamia University on December 15.
The stretch of Shaheen Bagh to Kalindi Kunj road which is about two to three kilometres has commercial centres housing shops and restaurants. The road ends at Atlanta Water Park. The Shaheen Bagh-Kalindi Kunj road is parallel to the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway which is used by a large number of commuters between Delhi and Noida.
Several of those participating in the stir, however, have contested the claim that the sit-in was causing inconvenience to a large number of commuters. Several protestors said that the Shaheen Bagh-Kalindi Kunj road in southeast Delhi, which is blocked for over two months, is used by only a few commuters, that too mostly from the vicinity of Jamia Nagar and Okhla who had agreed to the use of the site for the demonstration.