RSS route march: Madras High Court summons DGP, Home Secretary after RSS files contempt of court plea

The Madras High Court Wednesday issued statutory notices summoning Tamil Nadu (TN) Home Secretary P Amudha and Director General of Police (DGP) Shankar Jiwal after the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) filed a batch of petitions claiming the State authorities had acted in contempt of the Court’s order by denying them permission to conduct route marches and public meetings despite the Court’s approval. .Justice G Jayachandran directed the State officials to remain present before present before the Court after four weeks..Senior counsel G Rajagopal, who appeared for the RSS members, told the Court that while it had passed a common order on October 17, 2023, directing the police to grant permission for the route marches in 35 places across the State on October 22 and 29, the State had refused to act on such order.Additional Public Prosecutor R Muniyapparaj however, sought time saying that the State had filed an appeal before the Supreme Court that was likely to come up for hearing on November 3..The Court however, refused to defer issuance of notice or grant further adjournments saying that it appeared, “prima facie” that the TN government and the police were “either incapable of administering the State or, had ignored” the order of the Court, disregarding all need for respecting judicial orders..The same issue had come up before the Court in October last year when the RSS sought the Tamil Nadu government's permission to carry out its march and public meetings at several locations across the State to mark Gandhi Jayanti and 75 years of India’s independence.However, the State government had refused permission citing intelligence reports anticipating law and order problems. The RSS had then approached the Madras High Court..On November 4 that year, a single-judge had given the RSS permission to conduct the march subject to certain conditions like restricting the march indoors or in enclosed spaces.On February 10, a division bench of the High Court had lifted these restrictions and emphasised the importance of protests in a healthy democracy..It had also directed the RSS to approach the police with three fresh dates on which they planned to conduct the route march.However, the Tamil Nadu government had challenged such order before the Supreme Court but the Supreme Court too had upheld the order granting permission to the RSS for its route march.Subsequently, in April 2022, route marches were organised by the RSS at 45 places across the State.