Overview
- Delhi Police denotified Jantar Mantar and formally notified Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground as designated protest sites on Monday, October 12, 2026.
- Officials say the move will reduce disruption in central Delhi by routing demonstrations away from busy corridors and metro stations.
- Authorities cited Jantar Mantar's limited capacity of roughly 2,000 people as part of the rationale for reallocating protest locations.
- An IIT Indore study and commentators describe the pattern as one of 'denial, designation and creation,' arguing that moving protests farther from the seat of power will reduce protesters' visibility and weaken direct access to decision-makers.
- The change continues a decades-long shift in Delhi's protest geography from Rajpath to Boat Club to Jantar Mantar and may prompt protesters to create new sites, as seen previously at Shaheen Bagh and the farmers' border protests, with implications for how citizens engage public life and how police manage large demonstrations.