Supreme Court orders special hearing on pleas challenging Delhi’s mass detention and transit shutdown on Sunday

A closed view of Jahangir Puri metro station in New Delhi on October 9, 2026. | Photo credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

The Supreme Court is hearing a petition filed by Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy on Sunday (October 11, 2026) against the indiscriminate detention of leaders, former chief ministers, students, youth, journalists, lawyers and others by the Delhi Police, against the rule of law and democratic dissent.

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The court is also hearing a contempt petition in a special session on October 11 challenging the blanket shutdown of public transport, railways and the metro, aimed at discouraging protesters converging on the national capital to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Metro stations remained closed almost across the capital, major roads were heavily barricaded with a heavy presence of security personnel, and trains to Delhi were canceled on 10 October amid thousands of detentions.

The petition will be heard by Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohan. The bench meeting on Sunday (October 11) was published in Supreme Court cases published on the evening of October 10.

In his petition, advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi said the shutdown was in clear violation of the Supreme Court’s October 9 order, which emphasized that the authorities must not cause any inconvenience or suffering to common commuters through blanket ban.

Mr. Tripathi is the lead petitioner who moved the Supreme Court in connection with the July 20 police action against youth protesters during the NEET-UG paper leak protests.

He sought a court order to initiate contempt proceedings against Union Home Minister Govinda Mohan, Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Chairman D. Thara for allegedly willfully disobeying the court’s directions.

“Despite the solemn court mandate and assurance recorded before the Supreme Court of India bench, the contumors knowingly maintained widespread shutdown across the transit corridors, insisted on unauthorized cancellation of trains and did not issue or publish transparent traffic and transit alerts,” the petition said.

The “deliberate mutiny” severely crippled public life in the National Capital Territory and stranded essential travelers, they said, and amounted to a deliberate attempt to circumvent and undermine the authority and majesty of the court.

“The Supreme Court noted the commitment of the Attorney General of India and categorically ruled that there would be no outright ban on metro trains or essential rail transit; Transport authorities were directed to move from blanket ‘ban’ to reasonable ‘regulation’ to avoid any nuisance or inconvenience to citizens,” it said, adding that any such regulatory framework and traffic information were immediately required to be printed media and traffic information posted immediately.

In its October 9 order, the Supreme Court sought compliance reports from the authorities within four days.

Published – 10 October 2026 20:40 IST