Ban on Praveen Togadia remains as Karnataka High Court dismisses his petition
The News Minute | February 6, 2015 | 2.05 pm IST
The Karnataka High Court on Friday dismissed the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s petition challenging the Bengaluru police’s order to prevent Praveen Togadia from entering the city for a week.
A single division bench of the court presided by Justice Abdul Nazeer dismissed the petition, which challenged the police order on the grounds that Togadia’s freedom of speech and expression was being curtailed through the ban. The Bengaluru police had issued an order earlier this week, preventing Togadia from entering the city between February 5 and 11. The VHP rally, in which Togadia was the star speaker, has been organized for February 8.
For the last two days, the BJP has been protesting against the decision of the city police, saying that the order curbed Togadia’s right to freedom of speech expression.
Speaking to The News Minute on Thursday, VHP chief for Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Gopal Nagarakatte had expressed confidence that the court would rule in its favour, and said that the organization would take a call on further action if the ban still remained.
The BJP meanwhile, has been raising slogans in the Vidhan Soudha over this issue, and even staged a walk out on Thursday afternoon. Reacting to the dismissal of the petition by the High Court, BJP leaders reacted strongly, saying the decision was unfair and smacked of the Emergency.
Senior BJP leader K S Eshwarappa said that during the Emergency too, the right to freedom of expression has been curtailed, and that the move was unconstitutional.
It is little wonder that the city police are jittery about the VHP event. The All India Majlis-e-Muslimeen (AIMIM) too had organized a rally on the same day.
The police also suffered some embarrassment on account of a procedural lapse, in which the local jurisdictional police granted permission for the rally, when it was the commissioner’s office which had the authority.
A sub inspector of the Bengaluru police has been suspended for permitting The AIMIM leader and MP Asaddudin Owaisi to speak at a public meeting in the city on February 8. Top police officers say that the sub inspector did not have the powers to issue such permission and it should have been granted by a supervisory officer like the Deputy Commissioner of Police.
Though the permission was initially granted, it was later cancelled by the Bengaluru Police Commissioner.
Owaisi had earlier told The News Minute that the Congress government was scared of giving permission. “Why was permission given in first place and when all publicity was done, suddenly they say postpone it. Is there an Emergency that it cannot be held or some unnatural event took place? Nothing happened, this is a convenient way of stopping my public meeting. I have seen this many times,” Owaisi had said.
It is not just Owaisi, but Bengaluru police have barred Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia also from addressing a gathering at the ‘Hindu Viraat Samavesha’ on the same day.
“The fact that Owaisi and Togadia were to address a gathering on the same day made the situation precarious,” says a police officer on conditions of anonymity.
The VHP has approached the Karnataka High Court arguing that barring Togadia was an infringement on his fundamental rights. The AIMIM meanwhile has asked permission to hold the event on a later date.