Supreme Court of India.
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday appealed the Supreme Court against a Madras High Court order allowing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to take out a route march in Tamil Nadu to commemorate the 75th year of Independence, the birth centenary of Bharat Ratna B.R. Ambedkar and Vijayadasami festival.
The petition, filed through advocate Joseph Aristotle S., said such an event would pose a law and order problem in the State.
“We are of the view that the State authorities must act in a manner to uphold the fundamental right to freedom of speech, expression, and assembly as regarded one of the most sacrosanct and inviolable rights envisaged in our Constitution,” a Division Bench of the High Court had reasoned in its order early in February.
The Division Bench had set aside a November 2022 order of a Single Judge imposing conditions on the proposed march.
“The State’s approach towards citizens’ rights can never be adversarial in a welfare State and it must be considered for granting permission for peaceful rallies, protest, processions or meetings so as to maintain a healthy democracy where the constitution reigns supreme and the fundamental rights of citizens are placed at a lofty pedestal,” the High Court had observed.
