The Supreme Court on Monday said it would lay down a law with regard to citizens’ right to protest on roads as an expression of free speech vis-à-vis the rights of other citizens to seek protection from such inconvenience in the context of the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.

The protests were withdrawn in April this year following the coronavirus-induced countrywide lockdown.

The matter, which was last heard in February, came up briefly on Monday before a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul during which solicitor-general Tushar Mehta suggested that the petition should be disposed of as infructuous since the protesters have already vacated the place. However, the two separate PIL petitioners opposed the suggestion.