The Madras High Court today directed the Tamil Nadu (TN) police to allow the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to conduct a route march across Tamil Nadu on October 6 this year.
Justice G Jayachandran further ordered the police to follow the guidelines laid out in its previous order passed last year regarding grant of permission for public marches and gatherings
The route march is scheduled to take place at more than 50 locations across Tamil Nadu.
The Madras High Court remarked that the Court is hoping police will follow the court’s guidelines in its January 5 order and not trouble the court each time inventing new, fanciful, ideas. It added that these are sensitive issues and the police are bound to provide protection both to the organisers and the public.
It also stated that the RSS were forced to come to the court only because the police did not pass an order on their representation. Once the RSS came to the Court, the police passed an order rejecting 42 proposals, the court continued. It added that the police can’t avoid these things simply by not passing any orders.
The High Court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by RSS functionaries from Tirupur and Dindigul districts in Tamil Nadu, against the orders of the local police rejecting their representations seeking permission to conduct the route march.
During the hearing, the counsel for the State told the Court that permission for the march at some locations had been rejected keeping in mind possible traffic and general law and order concerns.
Nonetheless, the Madras High Court reminded the State that it had already clarified in its earlier order that permission for such public events cannot be denied merely on apprehension of obstruction to traffic or the presence of religious institutions along such routes.