Allow MDMK meeting, HC tells police

November 27, 2014 10:08 am | Updated 10:08 am IST - CHENNAI:

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the police to permit the MDMK to hold a public meeting at T. Nagar here on November 27, subject to the usual terms and conditions.

In the course of his order, Justice V. Ramasubramanian said: “No one has absolute faith in the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.”

“People understand Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution to mean a fundamental right to freedom of their own expression and not that of others who hold a view that cannot be tolerated by them,” he said.

The observation came after the Government Pleader said many parties or organisations that challenged the rejection of their request for permission to hold public meetings and demonstrations did not have absolute faith in the right to freedom of speech and expression, and therefore, they could not base their claim on Article 19 (1) (a).

Agreeing with the argument, Mr. Justice Ramasubramanian said several organisations and parties objected to the screening of such films as Dam 999 and Kaththi, and to the publication of books, on the ground that they hurt someone’s sentiments. They even demanded that the government curtail the right to freedom of expression of other people. But when their own applications for permission to hold meetings and take out processions were rejected, they invoked the constitutional provision.

But, unfortunately, the government and the court alone were consistent: while the government uniformly rejected the requests of all groups, the court uniformly allowed the requests of all groups, he said.

He said the court had repeatedly held that permission to stage demonstrations could not be rejected just on the presumption that a person was bound to violate the law.

The petitioner, MDMK South Chennai district secretary P. Manimaran, said the public meeting was meant to elaborate on a conference planned to commemorate the former Chief Minister, C.N. Annnadurai’s birth anniversary. The police said the petitioner’s motive was only to speak about the LTTE, a banned organisation, on the birth anniversary of its slain chief V. Prabakaran.

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