Delhi Police strips Jantar Mantar of official protest status, court battles loom

On 12 October 2026 the Delhi police removed Jantar Mantar’s official status as a protest venue, pointing to Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and the CBD Ground in East Delhi as new sites; the order is being challenged in both the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court. Built in 1724 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II of Jaipur, the complex was originally an astronomical observatory, the first of five he set up across the country. Its huge stone instruments – the Samrat Yantra sundial, the Jai Prakash Yantra with its hemispherical bowls and the Ram Yantra for altitude and azimuth – were meant to cut errors in naked‑eye sky measurements and fed into the Zij Muhammad Shahi tables. Although European astronomers had already adopted telescopes, Jai Singh’s work improved the older positional tradition rather than replace it. Urban growth and nearby construction have limited the site’s scientific use, but from 1993 onward it turned into a focal point for public dissent after the traditional Boat Club lawns became harder to access. Over the past three decades the ground has hosted Anna Hazare’s 2011 anti‑corruption fast, Tamil Nadu farmers in 2017, protests against the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act and a 2023 rally by wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. In 2017 the National Green Tribunal ordered a stop to gatherings there, citing noise and pollution, but the Supreme Court in 2018 rejected a blanket ban, stressing the need to balance resident comfort with constitutional rights. ## Context The shift away from Jantar Mantar reflects a broader tension in Indian cities between preserving historic spaces and managing civic activism, while court battles will decide how future protests are organized.