New Delhi: Amid the uproar against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Supreme Court is hearing a slew of important pleas on Thursday (October 15). INDIA bloc petition against SIRKey among them is a petition filed by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and others in the INDIA bloc against the SIR process. The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Election Commission of India, CEC and other Election Commissioners in response to the plea, LiveLaw reported. The matter is listed before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. The petitioners have sought interim suspension of the SIR process. Read more about the Supreme Court’s response to the plea here.Jantar Mantar protest siteThe same bench also heard a separate petition challenging the denotification of Jantar Mantar as a protest site in Delhi, Bar and Bench reported. The court has issued a notice in response to this plea, LiveLaw reported.Police action against journalistsThe apex court also heard a petition filed by the Delhi Union of Journalists against stringent police action against media personnel covering the protests. According to Bar and Bench, CJI Surya Kant said that journalists exercise two rights simultaneously: freedom of expression and the right to carry on a trade or profession, making their protection particularly important. Justice Bagchi said the court will examine the different levels of protection available to accredited journalists, freelancers, independent journalists and influencers, according to Bar and Bench. Read more about the Supreme Court’s response here.The plea, challenging the detention of journalists, demands action against erring officers, immediate release of confiscated equipment and the lifting of all restrictions, including insistence of Press Information Bureau (PIB) cards, for covering protests and gatherings at public places. Veteran journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, who was detained while covering the protests, is a co-petitioner in the case. Thakurta has alleged that he was detained despite showing his PIB card.Block of 18 petitionsThe bench of CJI Kant and Justice Bagchi will also hear a block of 18 petitions related to the police crackdown during the protests against the CEC. The petitions raise issues of mass detentions, police brutalities, arbitrary closure of metro stations, internet shutdowns and other sweeping restrictions put in place to curb dissent, The Wire has previously reported.Additionally, the Supreme Court has taken suo moto cognizance of Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas’s letter detailing how a sitting MP was manhandled by the police without provocation. The letter will be treated as an interlocutory application in the ongoing cases, Brittas said in a post in X. “This offers a ray of hope that the constitutional guarantees of liberty, the right to dissent and the rule of law will receive the judicial scrutiny they so urgently demand. The hope is not merely that the law will hear us, but that it will ultimately act to protect those whose rights have been trampled upon,” Brittas said. Contempt pleasThe Union home secretary as well as Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar on Thursday offered an unconditional apology in response to the contempt plea filed against the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), railway authorities and the Delhi Traffic Police. While seeking discharge of the contempt plea, the Union home secretary said the suspension of internet services was restricted to a 4 km radius around the Raisina Hill and only applied to mobile internet. “The said request [from Delhi Police] was duly processed and considered in accordance with law and was found to be a proportionate measure, having regard to the magnitude of the situation and the need to prevent any disturbance of public order in the national capital,” the Union home secretary said about the police’s request to suspend internet services, LiveLaw reported.The Supreme Court has on October 11 issued notices to the authorities based on the plea alleging violations of its October 9 order lifting restrictions on transport and internet services in the capital.The court’s directive had come in response to a petition filed by CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby. However, the non-compliance of authorities prompted a fresh petition filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi. The plea says that authorities continued to close Delhi Metro stations and restrict train services despite the Supreme Court’s October 9 directions in M.A. Baby v. Union of India. It added that the Delhi Police’s actions amounted to an “intentional attempt to bypass and undermine the authority and majesty of this Hon’ble Court”.The DMRC and other authorities had been asked to respond by Tuesday (October 13).