The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the Tamil Nadu government’s appeal against the Madras high court order allowing route marches by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the state.
The Madras high court had on February 10 allowed the route marches despite the state refusing permission citing the threat of attack on the marches from the banned Muslim organisation Popular Front of India (PFI). The state government had approached the top court challenging the high court’s order which was dismissed on Tuesday by a bench of justices V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal.
Earlier, senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the RSS, said the right to assemble peacefully without arms under Article 19(1)(b) cannot be curtailed in the absence of a very strong ground. He questioned the ban imposed by the government on the RSS to carry out marches in some areas on the ground that the PFI was also recently banned.
