Delhi Protest Row: Regulating Dissent Or Restricting The Right To Protest?

Can the right to protest be restricted by time and location? A Supreme Court observation that no one can occupy a protest site indefinitely has reignited the debate over dissent, public order and the right to livelihood. On Left, Right & Centre, Vishnu Som brings together Congress's Rajesh Kalapa, BJP's Tuhin Sinha, advocate Jayant Adhikari and Kapil Madan to examine the legal and political arguments. With Jantar Mantar no longer available as a protest site, questions are being raised over the alternatives, their accessibility and the impact on traders. Is this a reasonable regulation of protests or a restriction on the right to dissent? The panel debates the competing constitutional claims as the country awaits the court's final decision.