NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court directed the government Wednesday to make protesters pay for damaging public property, failing which it will come out with guidelines for sternly dealing with those holding the country to ransom in the name of stir for one cause or the other.
“The protesters must face the consequences for their actions. They must realise that they will be held accountable for damaging public property. We are not bothered whether it is the BJP, Congress or any other organisation,” a Bench comprising Justices JS Khehar and C Nagappan remarked.
The observation, which came during the hearing of a plea of Gujarat Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who spearheaded the agitation demanding reservation for Patels, assumes significance in the wake of large-scale violence and loss of property in Haryana during the recent Jat quota agitation.
The Bench issued the warning when Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said the sedition case against Hardik also involved damage to public property. Incidents of damage to property were now happening everywhere and if the government did not frame a policy “we shall do it within our framework. People can’t be allowed to go berserk while agitating”, the Bench said in apparent reference to the Haryana Jat agitation.
“Where is our country going? You just can’t burn the property of the country or of people. Whether it is the BJP, Congress or any other organisation, it must be asked to pay for the damage,” the Bench said.
Another SC Bench, which was hearing the 2011 Jat quota stir case, had said it intended to order the setting up of special courts for disposal of cases involving damage to public property within three months.
The Bench of Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhya (both have retired now) had also expressed its intention to monitor the prosecution of those giving calls for blocking rail and road traffic. It had made the remark while hearing of two PILs relating to damage to the railways caused by Jats of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana in the course of their agitation.
“Are you really serious in stopping all this? Since you are not doing it, being the third constituent of the state, we will do it. But it is your function, not ours,” the court had noted.
“No one can take the country to ransom during agitations. You just can’t burn the property of the country or of people. Whether it is the BJP, Congress or any other organisation, it must be asked to pay for the damage,” says Supreme Court Bench.
