A section of senior advocates practising in the Madras High Court on Friday accused the city police of having portrayed a peaceful padayatra taken out on Thursday to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi on Martyrs’ Day as an “unauthorised activity” by many lawyers and three retired judges of the court.
In a statement, they said, “To describe a peaceful padayatra to honour Gandhiji as an unlawful protest is an insult to the Mahatma.”
The statement was issued jointly by advocate N.G.R. Prasad, designated senior counsel Nalini Chidambaram, Bader Sayeed, R. Shunmugasundaram, N.R. Elango and seven others.
Asserting that the padayatra was undertaken in a most dignified and peaceful way with the participants carrying the national flag and placards containing the preamble to the Constitution, the advocates said: “The participants did not go anywhere near the High Court building nor was there any disruption of the functioning of any court.
‘Message of peace’
“The padayatra went around the periphery and outside the court campus by which the message of peace, harmony and the idea of Gandhi’s India was sent across to the public at large. By repeated promulgation of orders under Section 41 of the City Police Act, the State has prohibited the right to assembly and that of any democratic expression.
“For them to paint the participation of retired judges who have every right as citizens to pay homage to the Mahatma and his message as suspicious or undesirable deserves to be deprecated. Yesterday, citizens were prevented from assembling at Gandhi Mandapam and some were detained.
“People look to the courts as the last bastion of defenders of the Constitution. It is highly condemnable for the police now to cast a cloud over a non partisan and solemn padayatra taken to remember the Mahatma and to reiterate his enduring message of peace and harmony.
“The State today seems to be worried about the Mahatma, the man and his message.”
