Citizens for Justice and Peace founder Abhijeet Dipke, speaking on Friday, attributed commercial losses experienced by traders in Delhi's Connaught Place to government actions rather than to the conduct of those participating in demonstrations. Ahead of the CJP's "Lehra Do Tiranga" march at Central Park, scheduled for 5 p.m., Dipke posted on X, arguing that peaceful protests do not harm businesses — rather, actions such as shutting down a city, suspending internet services, and restricting the movement of citizens cause such damage.
Dipke's written remarks held that commerce is not harmed by protests carried out without violence. He further stated that when authorities suspend activity across an entire city, cut off internet access, restrict movement, and turn urban neighbourhoods into zones of armed deployment, it is ordinary people who absorb the consequences.
The court's statement, issued within hours of those remarks, left open the possibility of ordering compensation should the area's closure be found to have inflicted losses on traders beyond what the law permits. A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took up the question of whether the New Delhi Municipal Council's restrictions amounted to a response disproportionate to what the situation warranted, during proceedings on a listing request brought by the Delhi Kirana Committee and the Delhi Iron and Hardware Merchant Association.
In submissions before the court, Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai put forward that daily commerce in the area stood to lose around Rs 200 crore, further noting that a notice from the NDMC had been served the night before to close off the zone. Justice Bagchi indicated that public law gave the court sufficient grounds to grant compensation, adding that a finding of disproportionate restrictions would prompt the bench to intervene. The Chief Justice expressed a wish that cooler heads would prevail, pointing to the income and daily welfare of small traders as his rationale. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for 26 October, once the Dussehra recess concludes.
According to the CJP's account, gatherings organised by the group took place across six cities — Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow, Bengaluru, and Nagpur — with no incidents of unrest reported at any of them. Demonstrations in those cities proceeded without any reported disturbances. An assault took place against a speaker in Jaipur; however, the decision was made to hold back from counter-aggression, a stance the group attributed to its stated principle that violence is not an acceptable response to violence.
The Citizens for Justice and Peace has described adherence to Gandhian principles of peace and non-violence as a founding commitment, one that party representatives say has been upheld throughout the organisation's history. The group indicated a preference for asserting constitutionally protected rights — provisions shaped through the drafting process led by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar — over any turn toward physical confrontation. The statement framed adherence to constitutional principles as the foundation of the group's collective position, with no external pressure characterised as sufficient to alter that stance.
The group's statement also addressed what it described as ongoing efforts to label its members as anarchists on account of their choice to speak out. Dipke's statement held that scrutinising those who hold public office, gathering in public spaces to voice dissatisfaction, and pushing for greater government openness are recognised forms of civic participation. The statement further characterised voting and civic participation as foundational acts through which people exercise collective self-governance.
The statement noted that when the party now holding office was itself in opposition, its members regularly joined street demonstrations and challenged the administrations of the time. It also noted that some of those now occupying leadership roles might not have reached those positions had they faced the same level of scrutiny, institutional pressure, and law-enforcement attention that others have faced. Analysts have noted that treating street protests as a legitimate democratic outlet while in opposition, only to reframe the same activity as a public-order concern upon taking office, reflects an inconsistency that critics say undermines political credibility.
The group's stated position, as conveyed in its statement, centred on equal standing rather than preferential treatment. It held that protections guaranteed to every citizen under the constitution apply regardless of which political party holds office. The statement characterised scrutinising those in power and speaking out against perceived wrongs as duties carried by civic participation, and described democratic accountability as requiring that those holding power through public mandate remain answerable to the people who placed them there.
The bench also noted during proceedings that electoral outcomes alone do not mark the boundary of democratic accountability. Retailers affiliated with the New Delhi Traders Association reported that three weeks of demonstrations had cut into revenue and disrupted the incomes of those who depend on local commerce, calling on organisers to hold future gatherings at alternative locations.
More than 6,000 officers and 220 units of central forces were positioned throughout central Delhi, according to a broadcast news outlet. Visitors to Central Park found it off-limits on 16 and 17 October after the NDMC cited administrative reasons as the basis for the closure. Authorities classified Connaught Place as outside the approved locations for demonstrations and put prohibitory orders in place, while still permitting a limited number of people to display the national flag.
The CJP has also moved to have Gyanesh Kumar replaced as Chief Election Commissioner, citing what the body characterises as procedural lapses in the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision exercise. Protest momentum grew after Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, two of the movement's leading figures, were placed under judicial custody following their detention at Jantar Mantar on 13 October.
