Till the early 1990s, Jantar Mantar, an 18th century astronomical observatory built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II of Jaipur, was a part of the list of places to sightsee in Delhi , and school students were taken there for annual excursions. In fact, the Misra Yantra inside the Jantar Mantar observatory complex was the inspiration behind the logo of the Asian Games held in New Delhi in 1982.
On Monday, the Jantar Mantar has been de-notified as a designated protest venue. Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Monday criticised the decision to remove Jantar Mantar as a designated protest venue, accusing the government of targeting the right to dissent. But Jantar Mantar was not always associated with protesters and posters or barricades and banners. Five years later, protests and rallies were banned at Boat Club and the road abutting Jantar Mantar was notified as a designated protest site. An order issued by the Delhi Commissioner of Police Anurag Kumar states that based on recommendations of committee Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Jantar Mantar as a protest venue has been de-notified. Three new venues– Ramlila ground, Burari ground and CBD ground in East Delhi have been designated as new venues for protests and demonstrations. This is not the first instance when protests have been officially stopped at Jantar Mantar. In Varun Seth & Ors. v. Police Commissioner, Delhi Police, local residents of Jantar Mantar Road complained of severe noise pollution, blockage of residential entryways, trash accumulation, and sanitation issues from continuous demonstrations. “I was born here, and the area used to be peaceful. Protests happened elsewhere, and even in the early 2000s, the problems were not as severe. The protest was so massive that the gathering repeatedly spilled over to nearby Tolstoy marg and Sansad Marg. It eventually resulted in resignation of the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. “Delhi is once again flooded with people standing up to save democracy. If Modi thinks taking away Jantar Mantar will put an end to protests, he is mistaken.
In fact, Boat Club lawns were the preferred protest site, and in 1988, farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait led the most significant protest there that lasted a week and saw lakhs of people. In 2017, tribunal directed authorities to stop protests in the area, citing residents’ right to a clean and noise-free environment under Article 21 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court in July 2018 subsequently observed that a blanket ban on all protests at Jantar Mantar was not viable, leaving authorities to balance the right to peaceful assembly with residents’ concerns. Seth said that his problems are exactly the same as they were in 2016-17. Our troubles began with the Anna Hazare movement in 2011. In the last two prominent protests at the site, Jantar Mantar in January 2023 saw Indian female wrestlers protesting for an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment of female wrestlers by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh during his tenure as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). More recently, the protest and hunger strike undertaken by Sonam Wangchuk and CJP took place in between June 6 and July 25, 2026.
It is not just me; residents of hundreds of homes along Curzon Road, Barakhamba Road and Tolstoy Marg have been affected.We hope everyone will finally get some breathing space,” Seth said. Jantar Mantar is not just a location but a spirit of resistance that nobody can ever take away,” he said.
