Supreme Court bars a full stop on Delhi Metro and trains for Saturday's protest

The Supreme Court on Friday told the government there shall be no complete prohibition on Delhi Metro movement ahead of Saturday's protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana said a considered decision may be taken to run the Metro and other trains in a regulated way, so that the public is not put to avoidable trouble, and that the decision must be given wide publicity.

The order came after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta agreed to ask the authorities to reconsider a full stop and to allow Metro and railway services to move in a suitably regulated manner. The bench tied that request to proportionality. A total shutdown, it said, would affect the rights of citizens. The court asked the government to publish an advisory in newspapers and on news websites.

The restriction the court has cut back was already in motion. Delhi Police had written to the Metro about closing entry and exit at 57 stations from 9 p.m. on Friday. Northern Railway had cancelled trains due into New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin between 4 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, including the Jammu Tawi-New Delhi Rajdhani and three services from Katra. More than 35 trains were on the cancellation list in one count. Sarai Kale Khan and New Ashok Nagar Namo Bharat stations were to stay closed from 9 p.m. Friday to 10 p.m. Saturday, while Namo Bharat services between Anand Vihar and Modipuram were to keep running. Amritsar-Delhi air fares were quoted at about Rs 8,000, against a usual one-way fare near Rs 4,000, after the rail block.

Police in Madhya Pradesh had already taken protesters off trains at Bhopal, Itarsi and Gwalior. Delhi Police had refused permission for the Jantar Mantar demonstration, citing a late application and past violations. The Delhi High Court had declined an urgent hearing on a Youth Congress plea. Schools in the capital had shifted classes online, and some colleges had postponed Saturday exams. The protest call, associated with Arvind Kejriwal and described in police notices as a march against the chief election commissioner, is still on the calendar. What Friday's order changes is the transport response, not the politics of the march.

The court's sentence is narrower than a restoration of the full timetable. "No complete prohibition" allows thinning, diversions and closed stations. It does not require every cancelled Rajdhani to be restored. The advisory the bench demanded is the part commuters can use. A regulated service that is not published by evening is, for a passenger at a station, the same as a cancelled one. The solicitor general's assurance is the mechanism. The publicity order is the test.

Proportionality is doing specific work here. The court did not ban the protest, and it did not order the police to allow it. It said a security plan that stops the Metro and the railway outright goes further than the risk requires, because it hits people who are not marching. That leaves the home ministry and the police to redraw the station list before Saturday morning. Fifty-seven stations was the figure in the police letter. The lawful figure is now whatever list can be defended as regulation rather than a ban.

Saturday's practical question is which trains actually run between 4 a.m. and 2 p.m., and which Metro stations open. The court has barred a total stop. It has not published the new timetable. That timetable is the document the advisory is supposed to carry.