By Tuesday, 13 October, more than a dozen petitions about the Delhi protests were waiting in the Supreme Court, all listed together for Thursday, 15 October. Three days earlier the same dispute was being fought with barricades and police buses at Jantar Mantar.
What our own timeline shows
We log every sourced development in the live timeline on this site. Counting those entries day by day shows the shift plainly. On 10 October we logged 149 entries, and 68 of them mentioned detentions. By 12 and 13 October the daily count had settled near 80, and about half of those entries were about a court, a plea or a petition.
- 10 Oct: 149 entries, 10 mentioning a court or petition, 68 mentioning detentions
- 11 Oct: 56 entries, 14 court, 17 detentions
- 12 Oct: 79 entries, 38 court, 18 detentions
- 13 Oct: 78 entries, 39 court, 18 detentions
The counts are keyword matches on our own entries, so they measure what we recorded, not everything the media published. The legal news sites LiveLaw and Bar and Bench were the source for none of our 10 October entries and for 26 of them on 12 October.
The Sunday order that opened the door
The Supreme Court sat on Sunday, 11 October. A bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana ordered that people gathering peacefully must not be illegally detained, that metro and rail services run normally, and that internet access stay undisturbed as per law LiveLaw. It found a prima facie case that its 9 October order had been broken by the metro closures, and issued notice to Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, the Delhi Police Commissioner and DMRC chief D Thara Bar and Bench. It also said lawyers and journalists must not be stopped from doing their work LiveLaw.
That last line became the basis for much of what followed. Free Speech Collective, the Network of Women in Media, Molitics journalist Amaan Rastogi and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists all went to the Supreme Court, saying reporters were detained or manhandled after the order Bar and Bench Bar and Bench LiveLaw LiveLaw.
The opposition marches to the Supreme Court
Rahul Gandhi announced on 11 October that opposition parties would march to the Supreme Court and hand the Chief Justice a memorandum Rahul Gandhi on X. Chief Justice Surya Kant declined to meet them Bar and Bench. Gandhi said the CJI had asked them to file a petition instead Congress on X.
On 12 October they did. Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and ten leaders from the TMC, SP, RJD, Shiv Sena (UBT), CPI(M), CPI, JMM, NCP (SP) and IUML filed a writ petition challenging voter deletions in the Special Intensive Revision and seeking CEC Gyanesh Kumar's removal Bar and Bench LiveLaw. Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel described the route they had taken: the Election Commission, Jantar Mantar, the President, and now the judiciary ANI.
The filing did not go smoothly. The registry flagged more than ten defects, and the petition was missing from Tuesday's cause list PTI. Lawyers have since filed petitions over the crowd that gathered on the court premises that night LiveLaw.
After the bloc met at Gandhi's home on 13 October, Shashi Tharoor said there would be an impeachment motion if the CEC was still in office when Parliament convened, and that "this battle will be a long one" ANI.
Lawyers on both sides of the courtroom door
Bar bodies say lawyers were among those detained and mistreated on 10 October, and they reacted fast. The Supreme Court Bar Association and the Advocates-on-Record Association both moved the court over the treatment of advocates LiveLaw LiveLaw. Members wore white ribbons and stood for a minute's silence on 13 October Bar and Bench. Lawyers protested in Bengaluru, Kochi and Mumbai, where police dispersed a gathering at Hutatma Chowk LiveLaw Bar and Bench LiveLaw.
The same bodies drew a line at the opposition's demands. SCBA and SCAORA condemned social media calls for the Chief Justice to resign Bar and Bench Bar and Bench, and SCAORA backed the CJI's position that parties must come through the judicial process Bar and Bench. The Delhi High Court Bar Association said it did not support the 13 October lawyers' march ANI. A separate lawyers' body asked the Supreme Court to stop protests from "paralysing" Delhi LiveLaw.
The CJP stayed on the street
The group that started the 10 October protest did not follow the others into court. Shortly after midnight on 11 October, CJP shared its legal head Ratna Singh's post saying it had not filed a habeas corpus plea and was not approaching the Supreme Court CJP on X. On 13 October, asked by PTI about the INDIA bloc's march, Abhijeet Dipke said he would not comment for now PTI.
Instead the party asked Parliament Street police for a Jantar Mantar date on 12 October and gave them 24 hours Deccan Chronicle. Before the deadline ran out, a standing order dated 11 October removed Jantar Mantar as a protest venue Bar and Bench. Early on 13 October, CJP members went there anyway. Delhi Police confirmed that spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained ANI, and Al Jazeera reported that the leaders had climbed barricades to get in Al Jazeera. Ranka said the party would keep protesting there until Gyanesh Kumar resigns Deccan Chronicle.
The party's line, in its own words on X that afternoon: "Istifa toh Jantar Mantar se hi lenge" (we will take the resignation from Jantar Mantar itself) CJP on X. Late that night it said Ranka, Das and others were still being held CJP on X Claim · CJP. Police had not said whether they were freed.
Where a protest is now allowed
Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar's order names Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and the CBD Ground in East Delhi as the designated sites, citing a Home Ministry committee Bar and Bench. In the Delhi High Court on 13 October, police said the change followed the Supreme Court's 9 October order that protest sites need basic facilities and must be identified and designated Bar and Bench Government's position.
Ramlila Maidan, the largest of the three, is booked until late December, with three open dates near the end of the year at Rs 1.21 lakh a day, according to Deccan Chronicle. Civic officials said a small free section takes about 150 people Deccan Chronicle. The order has been challenged in the Supreme Court Deccan Chronicle, and the Youth Congress says it will challenge it too ANI.
Opposition and protesters
Rahul Gandhi said there are "no parallel protests" but "one protest" to remove Gyanesh Kumar ANI. After the INDIA bloc met at his home on 13 October, CPI's D Raja condemned the de-notification of Jantar Mantar and the bloc said it wants the site back PTI PTI.
Government and BJP
Home Minister Amit Shah asked who else should revise the rolls if not the Election Commission BJP on X. UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya called the agitation "a complete flop" ANI, and Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde called the march to the Supreme Court "murder of democracy" ANI.
Dates coming up
Supreme Court hears every protest plea
The court fixed Thursday for all related petitions and gave the Centre until then to reply on contempt over metro, rail and civic services and on police detentions ANI. It also asked for a senior Delhi Police officer to appear over the treatment of women journalists LiveLaw.
Bombay High Court on Mumbai detentions
The court will hear the plea on preventive detentions during the 10 and 11 October protests in Mumbai, and asked the petitioner to put specific cases on record Bar and Bench.
Possible impeachment motion against the CEC
Tharoor said the opposition would move one if Gyanesh Kumar is still in office ANI.
For the day itself, see the 10 October Jantar Mantar protest, and for how the detention counts differ, our check of the 10 October figures.