Madras High Court permits RSS to conduct route march on November 6 at 44 out of 50 requested locations

The Madras High Court Friday permitted the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to conduct a route march on November 6 at forty-four locations across Tamil Nadu out of the fifty locations for which it had requested permission..Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan said that he had gone through the sealed cover intelligence report submitted by the Tamil Nadu police on Thursday and concluded that except for a few scattered instances of disturbance of law and order, there were no apparent security risks in the State..The TN police had earlier denied permission to the RSS to conduct such march on October 2 citing law and order problems in the aftermath of the ban on the Popular Front of India. On Thursday, the State had said that permission could be granted only at three of the 50 places considering the security risks following the Coimbatore car blast and the prevailing heavy rain conditions in the state.Justice Ilanthiraiyan however, said on Friday, "I have gone through the sealed cover report and not found any thing. You (TN police) have mentioned crime numbers of 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. The DGP had asked the concerned Superintendents of Police to consider prevailing situation and grant or deny permission. What is this?I only found some scattered instances here and there that pertain to recent times. How is any of this connected (to the Coimbatore blast?"The Court, therefore, permitted the RSS to conduct the route march led by a musical procession, and public meetings at all the places it had requested for except at Nagercoil, Coimbatore city, Pollachi, Mettupalayam, Palladam, and Arumani..The Court said that it had found "some material" in the above six places only.While the State Public Prosecutor insisted that the law and order situation across the state continued to be "sensitive," the court said it had found "nothing" in the intelligence report to suggest the same."I will permit you (RSS) to conduct this procession and function in all but these six places," the single-judge made it clear. It also granted RSS the liberty to approach the State police with a fresh representation after two months to conduct the event at the above six places.The court directed the State police to direct all police officers not to "precipitate the issue," and to make security arrangements accordingly.Senior counsel NR Elango and State Public Prosecutor Hassan Mohammad Jinnah appeared for the TN government and the police.Senior counsel NL Rajah and S Prabakaran and advocate B Rabu Manohar appeared for the RSS..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.