The cancellation of Jantar Mantar's status as a designated protest site during protests over voter exclusions has revived questions on how far the state can regulate peaceful assembly.

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• Delhi's Jantar Mantar has been denotified as a designated protest site, following protests over the exclusion of voters in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
• Protesters have demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
• Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which allows preventive orders in cases of potential danger or disturbance, was invoked in the capital just before the protests.
• On October 9, the Supreme Court, hearing petitions on a blanket transport ban affecting access to Delhi, directed authorities to designate suitable alternative protest sites.
• The Additional Solicitor General told the Delhi High Court that the denotification followed the Supreme Court's earlier order.
• The Supreme Court has passed no interim orders in the cases challenging the denotification.
• Article 19(1)(b) guarantees citizens the right to assemble peaceably without arms, subject to reasonable restrictions under Article 19(3).
• In Himmat Lal v Commissioner of Police (1972), the Court held that reasonable regulation of assembly differs from arbitrary exclusion, and the state cannot close all public places to meetings.
• Concerns have been raised over prolonged detentions, limited access to lawyers and deportation notices to Overseas Citizens of India joining the protests.
• Critics argue that moving protests to distant alternative sites can weaken the visibility and effect of the right to assemble.