A petition was filed on Thursday seeking the removal of the thousands of Shaheen Bagh protesters on the ground that their continuing sit-in posed the risk of a further spread of the novel coronavirus.

The bench of Justices N.V. Ramana, K.M. Joseph and Bhushan Gavai, before whom the matter was mentioned for urgent hearing, told petitioner Ashutosh Dubey to approach the “mentioning officer” for early listing.

Dubey, an advocate, wants the women and children protesting against the new citizenship matrix at Shaheen Bagh to be removed now and perhaps be allowed to resume the dharna once the coronavirus crisis has blown over.