Govt. move to de-notify Jantar Mantar follows SC suggestion that protest sites need more space, open air

Security personnel keeping vigil near a fortified Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on October 11, 2026. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

Exactly three days before the Delhi Police de-notified central Delhi’s Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site on Monday (October 12, 2026), the Supreme Court and the Union government were on the same page about finding an alternative site to “peacefully and lawfully” express dissent in the national capital.

On October 9, both the court and the government had reasoned that central Delhi was too cramped for protests. It denied protesters basic amenities. Observations and remarks were also exchanged about how inconvenient protests in and around Jantar Mantar were to ordinary commuters in Delhi. The Chief Justice of India remarked that central Delhi did not have any washroom, medical and drinking water facilities.

The four-page order passed on October 9 actually records the Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant urging the Union government to look for a “spacious, open” alternative site.