Don’t See Shaheen Bagh Clearance as Win or Loss: SC Interlocutors

The Shaheen Bagh sit-in protest was cleared amid coronavirus pandemic.

Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran at Shaheen Bagh on Wednesday, 19 February.

(Photo: PTI)

The Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors of Shaheen Bagh on Tuesday, 24 March, appealed to people to not see the clearing of the sit-in protests as a "win or lose."

In the wake of coronavirus outbreak and a complete lockdown in the national capital, Shaheen Bagh’s nearly three-month-long protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) came to a halt as the Delhi Police cleared the protest site, earlier during the day.

Senior Supreme Court advocates Sadhana Ramachandran and Sanjay Hegde, who were appointed as interlocutors earlier in February, said that they have submitted two reports to the apex court.

“We request everyone to see the issue not as a question of win or lose. The country has a grave pandemic threatening it and currently that must receive priority in terms of everyone’s attention. We request the administration and the protesters to now not do anything, that will exacerbate the the underlying tensions that culminated in the street protests.”

Sadhana Ramachandran and Sanjay Hegde

'Dialogue Kept Shaheen Bagh Away From Violence'

Both Ramachandran and Hegde added that the process of interlocution reinforced the need for dialogue, at all times. They also added that it was dialogue that kept Shaheen Bagh away from violent protests.

“We believe that the Supreme Court-mandated interlocution, kept Shaheen Bagh protests peaceful even while violence erupted in other parts of Delhi. Some rigours of the blockade were relaxed by the protesters clearing some peripheral roads.”

Sadhana Ramachandran and Sanjay Hegde

At Shaheen Bagh, which has been the epicentre of anti-CAA protests since December last year, security was tightened and the protest area was sealed by the police after a prohibitory order under Section 144 was promulgated in Delhi in light of coronavirus concerns.

According to the DCP of Southeast Delhi, some protesters were also detained for not heeding to the orders.