Sanjay Balgude of Khadakmal Ali Mandal had said it was wrong that select Ganesh mandals take around 10 hours for immersions and thereafter, authorities force around 150 small Ganesh mandals to complete their processions in a few hours(Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)Disposing off a writ petition seeking directions to the administration to allow smaller Ganesh mandals of Pune to take out processions before the “honoured” ones, the Bombay High court Tuesday said the police would carry out their responsibility efficiently and it is wrong to presume that the Ganesh immersion procession will take 24 to 28 hours.
Shailesh Badhai, the president of the Badhai Samaj Trust in Pune’s Raviwar Peth, had filed a petition before the court to set a time limit within which the five “honoured” Ganesh mandals should complete their procession on Anant Chaturdashi, the final day of the festival. Alternatively, he had said, the court should pass an order that the honoured mandals should allow other mandals to conduct their immersion processes before their processions on a first-come, first-serve basis to avoid unnecessary delays.
“Do many small Ganesh mandals also say that the police have refused them permission to hold immersion procession on Laxmi Road? Then why there was no public interest litigation? Why only one Ganesh mandal approached the court?” the court questioned.
Lawyer Asim Sarode, who filed the application on behalf of the petitioner, said, “The court also stated that it was wrong to presume that the Ganesh immersion procession will go on for 24 to 28 hours. The police will carry out their responsibility efficiently.”
On the court disposing of the petition, Sarode said that many small Ganesh mandals would now seek permission of the police to allow them to carry out processions before the honoured Ganesh mandals. “Tradition does not mean a hall pass to do injustice. This is the beginning to raise voice against a wrong tradition. We will once again file a petition before the court with more proof even if the police take action.”
The Pune Badhai Samaj Trust was established in 1893 by Lokmanya Tilak and is celebrating 130 years of existence. Badhai has also filed an application with the Pune City Police requesting them to allow the start of their Ganesh mandal immersion procession from Tilak Statue in Mandai to Laxmi Road but the police did not take any decision on it and reportedly orally denied permission. The petitioner also alleged that the Pune City Police are granting permissions to processions under pressure but there is a lot of discrimination.
Badhai had requested the court to make a rule regarding non-discrimination not for just this year but for all the following years too. He had said that there is an unwritten rule that the traditionally honoured five Ganesh Mandals immerse idols first and they do not allow smaller mandals to use Laxmi Road till then. Despite being ready for immersion procession early in the day, smaller mandals have to wait till later – sometimes, till next morning – as the traditional Ganesh mandals start their procession at 10 am and carry on till late evening to cover a less than 3 km distance, he had pointed out.
In response to an RTI application, the city police communicated that they have no information available regarding the existence of any rule or law that allows the honoured and reputed Ganesh mandals to use Laxmi Road for procession.
Any tradition which discriminates between one another is liable to be struck down and discarded permanently, the petition had said.
Sanjay Balgude of Khadakmal Ali Mandal had said it was wrong that select Ganesh mandals take around 10 hours for immersions and thereafter, authorities force around 150 small Ganesh mandals to complete their processions in a few hours. “This is injustice. Smaller Ganesh mandals suffer due to the situation during the immersion procession,” he said. Balgude had filed an RTI with the Pune city police on Ganesh immersion processions.