On November 25, the Delhi High Court issued an order directing the Delhi Police and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to consider the feasibility of holding a public meeting proposed by the All India Muslim Mahapanchayat at the Ramlila Ground on December 18. The said order was issued by the bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad, who held that the application already given by the organisation Mission Save Constitution, for holding the Mahapanchayat on December 18, be treated as a representation.
In the order, the bench stated “let the application already given by the Petitioner on November 10, 2023 for holding the Mahapanchayat on December 4, 2023 be treated as a representation for holding the Mahapanchayat on December 18, 2023, and the Respondent No.3/MCD and the Police Authorities are directed to consider the feasibility for holding the Mahapanchayat at Ramlila Ground, Delhi on December 18, 2023.” (Para 5)
The said order was issued by the court while dealing with a plea moved by the aforementioned organisation seeking direction on the authorities to act upon its request and grant NOC to organise the public gathering at Ramlila Ground. As per a report in LiveLaw, the said organisation was founded by Advocate Mehmood Pracha and claims to work for creating awareness among the masses, especially the depressed classes, about their constitutional rights. It was the organisation’s case in the petition that it sought to initiate a series of events, starting from the event, for strengthening of all weaker sections, including Muslim and other minority communities like SC, ST, OBC and that voices of “all the oppressed people” would be raised in the meeting.
The order also provided that while the permission by the organisation was initially sought for holding the public meeting on December 4, the MCD provided that the Ramlila Ground was available for the said date but the same can only be allotted subject to NOC from Delhi Police. In its counter affidavit, the Delhi Police stated that NOC on the said date had already been given to Maha Tyagi Seva Sansthan for organising ‘Mahayagya for Vishwa Jan Kalyan’ at Ramlila Ground from December 3 to December 15, and therefore, Ramlila Ground was not available for December 4.
The court, in its order, said that it was not going into the controversy as to whether the Maha Tyagi Seva Sansthan should have first approached the MCD and then the Police Authorities or as to whether the petitioner organisation should have first approached the Police Authorities and then the MCD. Rather, the court urged the authorities to provide such a date where no function is scheduled at the ground so that the Mahapanchayat can be organised.
“This Court is not going into the controversy as to whether the Maha Tyagi Seva Sansthan should have first approached the MCD and then the Police Authorities or as to whether the Petitioner herein should have first approached the Police Authorities and then the MCD. In order to cut short the controversy, this Court had requested the learned Counsel for the MCD and the Police Authorities to give those dates on which no function is scheduled to be organised at Ramlila Ground, Delhi,” the court stated in its order (Para 3)
The counsel appearing for the organisation submitted that out of the dates given by the MCD and the Police Authorities, December 18 was the most convenient for holding the Mahapanchayat. The matter will now be heard on November 28.
The order of the High Court can be read here:
Prior denial of holding the Mahapanchayat by the Court
The aforementioned order of the High Court had come after the same bench had, on October 25, refused to grant permission to the organisation to hold a similar public meeting at the Ramlila Ground on October 29. Justice Subramonium Prasad upheld the Delhi Police’s decision which had withdrawn the permission granted to the organisation for holding the meeting, observing that it cannot be held to be arbitrary. Notably, it was the police’s stand that the proposed event was “communal”.
The court refused to grant permission for October 29 noting that during that time, several festivals will be celebrated. Besides, the court also said that the tenure of the posters of the organisation show that the event can have communal overtones and might increase communal tension in the Old Delhi area which has already witnessed communal tensions in the past.
Hence, the court observed that the “apprehension of the SHO (Station House Officer) of the concerned area” cannot be washed away by constitutional courts. It further said that though there is freedom to raise voice but the possibility of communal tension cannot be ignored.
While rejecting the petition, the court however said that it is always open to the authorities, after the festive season is over, to consider afresh the organisation’s plea for permission to hold the event. Justice Prasad ruled that the organisation’s fresh plea for permission will be considered by the authorities on its own merits, subject to the organisation providing a list of speakers and an undertaking that the meeting will not cause any communal tension.
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