HC raps cops, reserves order on Bhim Army plea for rally permit

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Thursday reserved its order on the Bhim Army’s petition against the police refusing permission for a rally at Reshimbagh Grounds, next to the RSS’ centre. The judges also pulled up the cops for not relying on any specific reason, such as intelligence inputs or other grounds, to refuse clearance.
One of the reasons mentioned by the police in its affidavit for refusing permission was that Bhim Army professes an ideology opposite to that of the RSS. Holding a protest at a site next to the RSS administrative centre could lead to a law and order disturbance due to the differences, it said. The police expressed readiness to grant permission for any other site.
The court observed that mere difference of ideology of any organization located close by cannot be a reason for denial of permission for a rally. “Rather the police should have come up with a stronger case, it said. Suppression can prove to be adverse and such protests on the other hand provide a safety valve,” observed justice Sunil Shukre. The petition was before the division bench of Shukre and justice Madhav Jamdar.
The Bhim Army plans to hold a rally on February 22, where issues like CAA-NRC and reservation will be discussed by speakers. One of the speakers is the outfit’s chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan, who has been at the fore-front of anti-CAA-NRC protests and also in midst of controversies. The organizers have given an estimate that 10,000 persons would gather for the event.
Even as the outfit got permission from NIT, which has jurisdiction over the ground, the police denied approval citing law and order reasons, leading to Bhim Army moving the court.
In a later development, RSS-leaning organization Lok Jagruti Morcha and other outfits have planned a rally at Sakkardara Chowk, around a kilometre away from Reshimbagh on the same day. RSS sources, however, clarified that the organizers were an independent outfit.
Bhim Army’s counsel Firdaus Mirza argued that denial of permission was a violation of the fundamental right to protest. He said the very intent of denying permission was mala fide. The police is ready to allow the Bhim Army to hold the event at any other site but not at the Reshimbagh Grounds. Mirza argued that if the event did not pose a threat to law and order at any other site, then how could it be so only at Reshimbagh Grounds. Mirza also argued that there is no specific law barring such rallies.
The proceedings also revealed that the police had also denied Bhim Army permission at two other sites, Chitnavis Park and premises of Hazrat Mazoom Shah Dargah nearby, in Mahal, where the RSS headquarter is located.
Ketki Joshi, the government lawyer, arguing for the police, said that the Bhim Army had not stated its agenda for the meet. Even as it has been billed to be a workers’ meet, it did not appear to be purely a gathering of the outfit’s cadre. Joshi said the petitioner had also hidden the criminal antecedents, as the district chief of Bhim Army Praful Shende had faced charges of not abiding with lawful directions in two cases. She also expressed concern about the credentials of Ravan, given the background of offences registered against him.