Chennai: The Madras High Court on Friday directed the police in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore to grant permission with certain conditions to BJP to conduct a four km road show of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in that city on March 18.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh gave the directive to the Assistant Commissioner of Police, R S Puram Range, on a petition filed by J Ramesh Kumar, BJP District President, Coimbatore, challenging an order denying permission to BJP to conduct the road show on Monday.
In his petition, Ramesh Kumar submitted he had applied for permission with the police on March 14 to permit him to conduct a road show for a span of four km via Mettupalayam road, Coimbatore for the purpose of enabling people to meet the Prime Minister.
The road show was to sensitize the people of Coimbatore about various welfare schemes launched by the PM and urge them to avail them through Direct Benefit Transfer without any interference of touts and also promote the habit of saying no to drugs keeping in perspective the recent incidents hazardous drug trafficking in Tamil Nadu, he added.
He said his application was rejected, the reasons being maintenance of law and order and peace and disturbance to public tranquility in Coimbatore in the event of conducting such road show and also in view of security threats as if it prevails.
The order was arbitrary and in contrary to the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.
The reasons stated in the refusal were not at all reasonable and despite his willingness to abide by any conditions imposed to conduct the road show has been completely overlooked by the police for political reasons, he added.
The Tamil Nadu BJP proposed to conduct the roadshow over a 4km distance from Eru Company junction to DB Road junction at RS Puram on Monday evening between 4 pm and 6 pm, following the PM’s public address at RS Puram.
On Thursday, Ramesh Kumar submitted a letter to the police seeking permission for the event. After an elaborate consultation with various stakeholders, the city police on Friday denied permission for the road show.
In their reply to Ramesh Kumar, the police stated that they have received intelligence inputs from state and central intelligence agencies regarding a high security threat from both domestic and foreign terror outfits.
The police said that in a public meeting, it is easy to screen every participant with the support of door frame metal detectors and hand held metal detectors. However, they said that during a roadshow, it is logistically difficult to conduct checks on every single person gathered on both sides of the road.
They said that the proposed venue is also in an area with hospitals, government offices, transport hubs, schools and major commercial establishments, causing significant disruptions to the general public and city traffic. Police also said the area planned for the venue has frequent movement of ambulances for medical emergencies, which would be affected by the roadshow.
Police also stressed that the event would affect students as it is the time of public examinations. Besides, Coimbatore is a communally sensitive city that has been under the surveillance of the NIA, said the letter.
The police further said they have not permitted any political or non-political leader or VIP to meet the public in a roadshow in the city so far.
