Police question maintainability of RSS appeals for route marches on public roads

Judges decide to hear the case on January 5 after the appellants say they intend to take out the marches in 41 places either on January 22 or January 29

The State police on Thursday questioned the maintainability of the Letters Patent Appeals (LPA) preferred by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) office-bearers against a single judge’s order permitting them to take out route marches and conduct public meetings only on premises with compound walls at 41 places in the State.

Appearing before a Division Bench of Justices R. Mahadevan and J. Sathya Narayana Prasad, Additional Public Prosecutor E. Raj Thilak contended that the LPAs were not maintainable at all since the single judge had granted permission for the marches with certain conditions, but the organisers chose not to conduct them.

After hearing the preliminary arguments, the judge asked Senior Counsel G. Rajagopal and N.L. Rajah, representing the appellants, to serve the case papers on the APP and adjourned the matter to January 5 after being informed that the appellants intended to take out the marches through public roads either on January 22 or 29.

Allowing their writ petitions, the single judge had on September 22 directed the police to grant permission for route marches, followed by public meetings, in 50 places across the State on October 2. However, then, the police refused to grant permission citing the ban imposed by the Centre on the Popular Front of India (PFI), a Muslim organisation.

It led to the filing of 50 contempt of court petitions against the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police. Thereafter, the police granted permission for the route marches on November 6 in just three places – Kallakurichi, Perambalur and Cuddalore districts – and refused permission for the rest citing the October 23 Coimbatore car blast.

However, after perusing the intelligence reports, the single judge, on November 4, ordered that the route marches could be deferred by two months in six places – Coimbatore city, Pollachi and Mettupalayam in Coimbatore; Palladam in Tiruppur; and Nagercoil and Arumanai in Kanniyakumari – since they appeared to be sensitive.

He further ordered that the marches could be conducted on public roads in the three places where the police had already granted permission but restricted them to premises with compound walls in the other 41 locations. Aggrieved over such an order, the RSS office-bearers cancelled the marches in the 41 places on November 6 and decided to appeal against the order.