The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld Madras high court’s order allowing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to hold 'route marches' in various parts of the state with certain conditions, and dismissed three appeals by the Tamil Nadu government in the matter.
The top court noted that the RSS members were not the perpetrators but victims in many of the cases cited in the data submitted by the state government while seeking that the marches be held only in certain enclosed areas due to the law and order situation following the imposition of a ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI).
The nearly eight-month-old issue of holding marches by members of the RSS in the southern state saw several orders being passed by a single judge bench of the high court since September last year followed by a division bench order in February.
An apex court bench of Justices V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal said on Tuesday, "We do not wish to extract in this order the chart provided by the state... on account of its sensitivities.
"But the chart provided by the state government shows that the members of the respondent organisation (RSS) were the victims in many of those cases and that they were not the perpetrators.
"Therefore, it is not possible for us to find fault with the order passed by the judge either in the main writ petitions or in the review applications. Hence all the special leave petitions are liable to be dismissed".
The top court in total dismissed three appeals filed by the state government, including the main appeal against the order dated February 10, 2023, passed by a division bench of the high court restoring the original order dated September 22, 2022 which directed the Tamil Nadu police to consider the representation of the RSS and grant permission to hold permissions with certain conditions.
In the original order, the single judge, while disposing of the 49 writ petitions filed by members of the RSS, had asked the state government to grant permission to allow processions and to conduct public meetings on October 2, 2022, at various places subject to certain conditions.
The conditions included that during the programme, nobody shall either sing songs or speak ill of any individuals, any caste, religion, etc and those participating in the procession shall not talk or express anything against the organisation banned by the Government of India.
The single judge had said that members of the RSS shall not indulge in any act disturbing the sovereignty and integrity of the country during the marches and the participants shall not bring any stick, lathi or weapon that may cause injury to anyone.
Dealing with the first appeal of the state government against the February 10 order, the apex court said it arises out of the order of the division bench passed in a batch of intra court appeals challenging the order passed by the single judge in a batch of contempt petitions.
"This court need not even go into several aspects argued across the Bar, for the simple reason that the judge travelled beyond the scope of a contempt petition and this is why the said order warranted interference by the division bench."
It said that after having disposed of the batch of main writ petitions filed by RSS members by a final order dated September 22, 2022, in a particular manner and after having dismissed the batch of review applications on November 2, 2022, the single judge could not have modified his original order dated September 22, 2022, in a batch of contempt petitions on November 4, 2022.
"Therefore, the division bench of the high court was justified in interfering with the order of the learned judge. On this short ground, special leave petition... deserves to be dismissed," the bench said.
The court also dealt with two appeals of the state government against the original order passed by the single judge on September 22, 2022, on the batch of writ petitions and the order dated November 2, 2022, passed in the batch of review applications.
The bench said that a perusal of the order of the single judge shows that he has considered the scope of Sections 41 and 41A of the Chennai City Police Act, 1888, and Section 30 of the Police Act, 1861, to come to the conclusion that the reliefs sought in the writ petitions by the RSS deserved to be granted subject to certain conditions.
"The judge not only interpreted the relevant provisions of the law correctly but also imposed necessary conditions. This is why the judge could not review his own order," the bench said.
It noted that the counsel for RSS has contended before it that the main objection raised by the state before the high court was that after the imposition of a ban order on another organisation (PFI), law and order problems cropped up in certain places.
On March 3, during the hearing, the Tamil Nadu government had told the top court that it is not completely opposed to allowing the RSS's route marches and public meetings across the state but cited intelligence reports to say these cannot be held in every street or locality.
The writ petitions were filed by members of RSS seeking a direction to the state and the police to permit them to conduct a procession (route march) through identified places and alleging that their applications for permission were not considered by appropriate authorities.
The state government challenged the order of September 22 last year by a review petition and a contempt petition was also filed by a member of RSS after permission to hold the march was rejected by the local police in Chennai.
The single judge on September 30, 2022, passed another order on the contempt petition and asked the state to consider the representation of the RSS and fix another date for holding marches.
Subsequent to the order dated September 30, 2022, the office of the director general of police filed a status report before the single judge on November 2, 2022, saying that in view of certain developments that took place after a cylinder blast in Coimbatore city on October 23, 2022, a fresh assessment of the local situation was made.
The police said it is not advisable to permit the permissions/public meetings in 24 locations. It said processions/public meetings can be permitted in 23 locations only in enclosed grounds/premises and processions can be permitted only in three locations.
On November 4, 2022, while disposing of the contempt petitions and the review petition of the state government, the single judge virtually modified the original order of September 22, 2022, and directed the RSS to hold meetings, as suggested by the police in its status report, in a ground or stadium.
The November 4, 2022, order was challenged before the division bench of the high court by the RSS which on February 10 set aside the modified order of the single judge and restored the September 22, 2022, order.
