The Madras High Court verbally said on Thursday that the Tamil Nadu Police should not cite the presence of mosques on the route to deny permission for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to hold marches, Bar and Bench reported.
Justice V Lakshminarayanan criticised the police for portraying minority communities as opposed to RSS processions despite earlier judicial orders rejecting such grounds for refusing permission.
“Don’t give Muslims a bad name,” the legal news outlet quoted the judge as having stated verbally.
The RSS, a Hindutva organisation, is the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The court was hearing a petition challenging the police’s refusal to permit the RSS to hold route marches as part of its annual Dussehra celebrations. The organisation had sought permission to conduct processions at 128 locations in Tamil Nadu, but the police were willing to allow them at only 58 locations, Bar and Bench reported.
The marches, originally scheduled for Sunday, were postponed to October 25 in northern Tamil Nadu and November 1 in the southern districts, the legal news outlet reported.
During the hearing, the court noted that the presence of mosques and Eidgahs along the proposed routes was among the reasons cited by the police for refusing permission, Live Law reported.
“Eidgah is for Ramzan and Bakrid,” Live Law quoted the judge as saying. “For gathering and praying....