State must uphold citizens’ right to freedom of speech, expression and assembly, the Madras high court said on Friday as it set aside a single judge order imposing certain conditions on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)’s route march in Tamil Nadu.
On November 4, 2022, a single judge bench of the Justice G K Ilanthariyanimposed conditions on the Sangh’s march, directing it to conduct the procession in compounded premises such as the ground or stadium. The court also asked the participants not to bring any stick, lathi, or weapon that may cause injury to anyone. The RSS later challenged the order in the HC, saying that public procession is an acceptable manner of exercising one’s freedom of speech and expression and that the State has a duty to permit the same.
Hearing the Letters of Patent Appeals (LPA) filed by RSS functionaries, a division bench of justices R Mahadevan and Mohammed Shaffiq set aside the single judge order on Friday and observed that the ideology of every organisation or political outfit in the state need not be identical or acceptable to another, but “just because there are other outfits that have a different ideology, the permission sought cannot be denied”.
“The decisions of the state must be in the public interest rather than on ideology and political understanding and affiliation… The state’s approach towards citizens’ rights can never be adversarial in a welfare State and it must be considered for granting permission for peaceful rallies, protest, processions or meeting so as to maintain a healthy democracy where the constitution reigns supreme and the fundamental rights of citizens are placed at a lofty pedestal,” the bench added in a 90-page order
“Since the organisation has the right to conduct peaceful procession and meetings in public place, the State under the guise of new intelligence input, cannot seek to impose any condition which has the effect of perpetually banning or infringing the fundamental rights of the organization citing law and order problem, after the order passed in the writ petitions, which attained finality,” it added.
It further directed the appellants to approach the state authorities with three different dates of their choice for the purpose of holding the route march/peaceful procession and the state authorities were directed to grant permission to them on one of the chosen dates out of the three.
An RSS leader in Chennai told HT that their members were going through the order as of Friday. “We will discuss and come up with the three dates soon,” he said.
“The organisation (RSS) shall ensure that strict discipline is followed at their end and that there is no provocation or incitement on their part,” the court said in its orders. “The State on the other hand has to take adequate safety measures and make traffic arrangements to ensure that the procession and the meeting shall go on peacefully.”
The RSS had originally planned to conduct the route marches in more than 50 places on October 2 last year, to commemorate the 75th year of Independence, the birth centenary of Bharat Ratna B R Ambedkar and Vijayadasami festival. However, the state government denied permission citing law and order concerns.
The Sangh then approached the high court, which ordered that permission be granted to conduct the march on November 6, but imposed many restrictions, of which an important one was to organise the march in enclosed premises such as grounds or stadiums.
Senior counsel N R Elango, representing the authorities in Tamil Nadu, contended that the LPA is not maintainable since contempt petitions in this case were dismissed previously, and that the RSS should have appealed in the Supreme Court. He also justified the state’s apprehension, pointing to the unrest during RSS’s procession in Karnataka’s Haveri district last October.
Appearing for the RSS, senior counsel N L Rajah argued that the state has given “untenable” reasons to deny it permission for the march. He added that in a democratic state permission for a lawful possession has been denied which is an “admission to the effect that the constitutional machinery had broken down and the respondents (state) have exposed their inability to comply with the order passed in the writ petitions.”
Last November, RSS went on the route march in the districts of Cuddalore, Kallakurichi and Perambalur but permission was denied in other places citing law and order. In the result, the order dated November 11, 2022 passed in the contempt petitions, which is under challenge in the present Leave Patent Appeals, is set aside, and the order dated September 22, 2022 passed in the writ petitions stand restored and would be enforceable.
