The Delhi High Court on Friday said that it cannot allow Afghan citizens to protest in the city’s Vasant Vihar area amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Live Law reported.
“We have compassion [for the Afghans] but we cannot put the city at risk,” Justice Rekha Palli said.
Since insurgent group Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August, Afghans in Delhi have been staging protests outside the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to demand refugee status, NDTV reported.
The residents of Vasant Vihar have opposed the protests. They moved the Delhi High Court saying they faced difficulties while commuting because of this gathering, The Indian Express reported.
The petitioners demanded that the Centre frame rules to ensure the protestors do not create problems, PTI reported.
While hearing their petition on Friday, the judge noted that the demonstration was not taking place at a designated site, according to Live Law. “Plus, as per Covid-19 guidelines, more than 100 people can’t congregate. If citizens cannot assemble, how can we permit these people?”
Palli expressed concern that the demonstration could turn into a “super spreader event”.
The Delhi Police told the court that any action against Afghan protestors might have international ramifications, according to The Indian Express. “The only option is that we will have to push them but we have not done that,” the police’s lawyer Satyakam said.
Ajay Digpaul, the Centre’s lawyer, also said that the matter should be viewed from a humanitarian perspective, according to PTI.
The judge said she will not pass harsh orders against the protestors for now, but added that “law is law for everybody”. Palli gave the Centre time till Tuesday to resolve the matter.
The Afghan crisis
The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on August 15 just as the United States was preparing to withdraw from the country.
After the insurgent group’s takeover, the country was thrown into turmoil. Thousands of people were flown out of Afghanistan in a massive evacuation effort supervised by the US. India evacuated over 550 people from Afghanistan.
US withdrew from Afghanistan on August 31, ending a 20-year-long war that began after a terrorist attack in New York city on September 11, 2001.
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