Delhi HC declines urgent hearing on activist's detention plea

The Delhi High Court declined an urgent hearing on Mohammad Wasiq Nadeem Khan's plea over alleged police confinement. The case now sharpens scrutiny of protest curbs and personal liberty in the capital.Image used for representational purposes onlyNewdelhi,Oct 9, 2026 16:18 ISTThe Delhi High Court on Friday refused to grant an urgent hearing on a plea by civil rights activist Mohammad Wasiq Nadeem Khan, who has alleged that he was illegally detained by the police to stop him from attending a peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma said the matter would be heard on October 12.Khan's counsel told the court that he feared he could again be detained or put under house arrest ahead of protests scheduled in the national capital on Saturday. She said Khan had to catch a flight to Kolkata on Friday and had received an oral communication that led to the apprehension of fresh police action, but the court declined to take up the plea during the day.Mentioning the matter before the bench, the counsel said it was urgent as it involved personal liberty. She said Khan was not participating in the protests in any manner and had already booked tickets to travel to Kolkata on Friday. She also said that if the plea was not heard on Friday, it would become infructuous.The bench, however, refused to list the matter during the day. It said, "Who has stopped you from travelling? There is no written communication that you should not travel or that you will be put under house arrest. On the basis on some call you are saying that we should pass some order. Sorry. We will hear you. Not today but, Monday." Khan, the national secretary of the Association of Protection of Civil Rights and the founder of the United Against Hate initiative, has alleged that police officials attached to Shaheen Bagh Police Station confined him at the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind headquarters in Abul Fazal Enclave on September 29 from around 9.30 am to 5.30 pm. According to the plea, this was done to prevent him from taking part in a protest.The protest at Jantar Mantar on September 29 had been called by the Association of Protection of Civil Rights and the Monitoring Committee of Indian Muslims, along with other civil society groups, against repeated attacks on places of worship. In his plea, Khan has also challenged a prohibitory order restricting public gatherings in the New Delhi district. He has sought a declaration that his confinement on September 29 was illegal and unconstitutional, along with compensation for the alleged violation of his fundamental rights.The petitioner has alleged that he was neither formally arrested nor given written grounds for his confinement. He also claimed that no arrest memo was prepared, no relative was informed, and he was not produced before a magistrate. He further said that police personnel continued to contact him about his whereabouts in connection with later protests on October 2 and October 5, which created apprehensions of further restrictions on his movement.Challenging the Delhi Police order, the plea said it bars assemblies of five or more persons, processions, demonstrations, picketing, dharnas, raising slogans and making speeches without prior written permission. It also restricts carrying specified articles, including banners and placards, and warns of legal action for violations. The plea argued that the order imposes sweeping restrictions on peaceful assembly and freedom of expression without identifying a specific or imminent threat to public order.The court has now fixed the matter for hearing on October 12, while Khan's plea raises issues over his alleged confinement on September 29, his apprehension of fresh detention, and his challenge to the prohibitory order in the New Delhi district.- Ends