The Madras High Court on Wednesday (October 14) orally questioned why the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was being denied permission for route march in Tamil Nadu, when it was permitted to hold marches even in terrorist infested places like Jammu and Kashmir.

"If they (RSS) is able to have a march in a terrorist infested place like Jammu and Kashmir, why is the Tamil Nadu police denying permission to them every year?" the court orally asked.

Justice V Lakshminarayanan orally remarked that the current state government had been denying permission for every procession, be it Dravidar Kazhagam or RSS, forcing them to come to court and take up unnecessary litigation.

"This government is against any procession. They're denying permission for Dravidar Kazhagam and for RSS," the court orally remarked.

The court also orally said that the State was seeing the citizens as its enemies and denying permission for protests. The court also remarked that no matter which government was coming up, RSS was being denied permission for its march.

"The government is seeing citizens as enemies. Whichever government is coming up, they're rejecting," the court orally remarked.

The oral remarks were made during the hearing of a plea filed by a member of the RSS, VG Jagadeesan, seeking directions to the police to consider his representation and permit the RSS to conduct route marches on October 18, October 25, November 1, or any other dates, wearing their uniform and led by a musical band, followed by a public meeting.

When the matter was taken up, Senior Advocate NL Rajah (appearing for the petitioner) submitted that every year, the organisation was being denied permission and forced to approach the court. He submitted that the organisation merely wanted to celebrate its founding day, which coincided with the Vijayadashmi celebration, and wanted to conduct a route march. He submitted that the police were, however, rejecting permission, stating that the march would cause law and order problems.

"An organisation like the RSS is able to come to court and seek permission. But what about the smaller parties which do not have the wherewithal to come to court?" Rajah asked.

The Advocate General Vijaya Narayan, however, submitted that the permission was denied only because the organisation sought permission to conduct a route march and public meeting in a place which was not notified as a site for public meeting.

The court directed the counsels appearing for the petitioners to meet with the State Public Prosecutor, John Sathyan, and resolve the issue. The court directed five members from the petitioner side to meet the prosecutor and come up with a solution to conduct the meeting peacefully.

The court adjourned the hearing to Thursday and asked the State to submit a report for permitting a peaceful procession.

It may be noted that previously, the court had issued detailed guidelines for holding route marches by the RSS. However, even after these detailed guidelines, the State had denied permission in 2024, forcing the party to approach the court again.

While permitting the march, the court had orally remarked that the police were expected to protect the public as well as the organisers and could not avoid giving permissions for such permissions for route marches citing law and order problems. The court said that it expected the police in the state to follow the court orders at least in the future and not trouble the court by inventing new and fanciful reasons for rejection.