The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to grant permission to Mission Save Constitution to hold a public meeting titled as All India Muslim Mahapanchayat at the Ramlila Ground on October 29.
Earlier, Delhi Police revoked the permission granted to the organisation for holding the meeting, saying that the proposed event was “communal.”
The petition was moved by Mission Save Constitution, the group which works for creating awareness among the masses, especially the depressed classes, about their constitutional rights. The organisation is found by human rights lawyer Mehmood Pracha.
The High Court said that the period of end of Shraadh till Diwali is extremely auspicious for people belonging to the Hindu Community and that the posters of the organisation show that the event can have communal and religious overtones, Live Law reported.
“Though the event has been styled for the purpose of educating people of their constitutional rights but the tenor of posters which have been produced by the learned Counsel for Respondent No.2 indicates that the event in question can have communal over-tones which can result in increasing communal tensions in the Old Delhi area, which is a “sensitive” area as people of different religions live here and communal violence in the area is not unknown,” said Justice Subramonium Prasad.
The HC observed that the apprehension of the SHO of the concerned area cannot be washed away by constitutional courts, reports Live Law.
”Though Article 19(1) (a) & (b) of the Constitution of India gives freedom to raise one’s voice but at the same time, the possibility of the event creating a law and order situation which can result in loss of lives, property, etc is an important factor which has to be taken into account by the law enforcement agencies and, therefore, the reason given in the letter dated 16.10.2023 cannot be said to be arbitrary,” the court said.
Mission Save Constitution sought to initiate a series of events, starting from the proposed 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.
“That the Muslim community is one of the weaker sections of the society, and is being attempted to be used as a fulcrum of polarizing the Indian Polity, similar to the other weaker sections of the society such as the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and other religious minorities,” the plea read.
