Stop illegal detentions, orders SC as crackdown continues in Delhi

SOCIAL – UNREST

12 OCTOBER 2026

• A day after mass detentions and a “curfew-like” clampdown on civil rights in Delhi, which senior lawyers compared to the 1975 Emergency, the Supreme Court convened what it called an “extraordinary, exceptional” Sunday hearing to direct the Union government and the Delhi Police to stop illegal detentions and allow free and smooth movement of people and traffic, as well as the operations of Metro and rail services, but “subject to law and public order”.
• Lawyers described a state crackdown that swept up thousands of people in an operation aimed at preventing them from gathering to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities.
• A Special Bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana ordered the police to forthwith review the imposition of barricades on public roads, ensure that Internet connectivity was not disturbed, and lift prohibitory orders issued under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) in and around the Supreme Court and other courts of law in the capital to help litigants access lawyers and justice.
• The court did not explicitly comment on the legality of the prohibitory orders.
• The top court issued notices to Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar, and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) chairperson D. Thara on a petition filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi seeking contempt action against them for allegedly violating an October 9 order which barred any “outright prohibition on the movement of Metro trains” and public transport.
• Justice Bagchi, dictating the order, observed there would be no detentions except by law outside the four-km prohibitory zone in central Delhi, which includes Jantar Mantar, the designated site for protests.
• Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan said the Emergency had reached our doorsteps. “A board advertising the prohibitory order is fixed outside this very court as we speak,” he said. The court ordered its removal immediately.