Madras High Court Refuses To Urgently Hear Plea By Actor Vijay's Party To Hold Protest Over Sivaganga Custodial Death

Update at evening : Madras High Court Asks Actor Vijay's Party To Submit Fresh Representation For Protest, Asks Police To DecideThe Madras High Court on Friday (July 4) refused to urgently hear a petition filed by Actor Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party to hold a protest on July 6th, (Sunday) over the custodial death of one Ajith Kumar in Sivaganga District. Justice P Velmurugan informed the counsel that the petition would be heard on Monday, if numbered by then. When the counsels informed the court that the protest was scheduled to happen this Sunday, the judge asked the party to postpone the protest and have it next week. The judge also orally remarked that the party should raise awareness about other social issues and crimes. The judge said that there was a need to change the law itself, which had been in existence since the British era. “Bring public awareness to everything. Ask people not to commit crimes. Ask people not to abuse wives. You've to start from the basics. Lot of things are there. You can't just put blame on one issue. You've to amend the law itself,” the judge orally remarked. Vijay's party had approached the court after getting no response from the State police on an application seeking permission to conduct the protest. The party had thus sought direction to the police to grant permission to conduct the public demonstration on 6th July from 10 Am to 1 PM at Sivananda Salai, Chennai, or on any date fixed by the court. TVK party had decided to hold a peaceful public demonstration condemning the recent custodial killing of Ajith Kumar in Sivagangai. A written representation was submitted to the Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai, which was acknowledged and forwarded to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Triplicane Range. However, no response was received on the representation. It was submitted that upon inquiry, the party was informed that the proposed venue was unavailable. Following this, another representation was submitted by the party's Deputy General Secretary, CTR.Nirmal Kumar, but no written permission or communication was received till date. The party had thus argued that the authorities failure to consider the representation was arbitray, unreasonable and violative of the principles of natural justice. It was also argued that the non-consideration of the representation amounted to dereliction of statutory duty. The party argued that the state was obliged to facilitate peaceful democratic expression and could not impose a blanket silence. Hence, arguing that the fundamental right under Article 19(1)(b) [right to assemble peacefully] was being violated, the party had approached the court for necessary orders.

Madras High Court Refuses To Urgently Hear Plea By Actor Vijay's Party To Hold Protest Over Sivaganga Custodial Death

Upasana Sajeev

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