Permission for RSS march in Bhainsa: High Court refuses to direct police

HYDERABAD: Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court refused to direct Bhainsa police to give permission for a ‘path sanchalan’ (route march) and for the holding of ‘saririk pradarshan’ programme by 1,000 RSS members on Saturday as Bhainsa town is a communally sensitive area. Moreover, ‘Shab-e-Meraj, revered by Muslims, falls on the same day.  

The judge was dealing with a lunch motion petition filed by Sadula Krishna Das, local RSS nagar sangachalak, who complained that the police had refused to grant permission for their programmes.

Justice Reddy asked the petitioner why they intended to hold the two programmes in Bhainsa, despite it being communally sensitive, and if they could be held outside the town.  

T. Suryakaran Reddy, a senior counsel, appearing for the petitioner, said the RSS conducted the programmes across the country every second year. During similar programmes earlier they had never sought police permission. He cited a recent judgment of the Madras High Court which told Tamil Nadu that a route march by the RSS cannot be curtailed on the pretext of a law and order problem.

He said that when another religious community had conducted a rally recently on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan in Bhainsa, the police had no objections.

Samala Ravinder, counsel for the home department, said that going by precedents, it was not feasible to accord permission, particularly given that ‘Shab-e-Meraj’ is celebrated on the same day.

The judge directed the home department counsel to seek the instruction of the police authorities on whether they were inclined to grant permission if the route march was conducted on some other date and posted the matter to February 20.