Madras High Court allows BJP to organise roadshow in Coimbatore during prime minister’s visit

The Madras High Court on Friday granted the Bharatiya Janata Party permission to organise a roadshow in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore on Monday that will be led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reported The New Indian Express.

The court authorised the police to impose reasonable restrictions on the event and to decide the route and distance that the roadshow will be allowed to take.

The bench of Justice N Anand Venkatesh passed the orders on an urgent petition filed by J Ramesh Kumar, president of the BJP’s Coimbatore city unit. Kumar approached the court after the police denied him permission for the roadshow citing law and order concerns.

“This Court is inclined to interfere with the impugned proceedings of [the police] and the same is hereby set aside,” the bench said. “There shall be a direction to [the police] to grant the permission and necessary police protection by imposing reasonable conditions.”

The court also prohibited the installation of flex boards for the roadshow and asked the BJP to comply with the conditions imposed by the police.

“All concerned shall ensure that the roadshow takes place in a smooth manner without giving rise to any law and order problem or cause any concerns to the safety and security of the Prime Minister of India,” the court said in its order.

Kumar’s original application to the police had sought permission for organising the prime minister’s roadshow from Mettupalayam Road to the RS Puram post office between 4 pm to 6 pm on Monday, covering a distance of about four kilometres.

The court on Friday remarked that public meetings organised by any political leader, especially the chief minister or prime minister, are bound to create “some hindrances”. However, that cannot be grounds for denying them permission.

“Ultimately, these leaders have been chosen by the people and hence, they should not be stopped from meeting the people who elected them,” the bench said, adding that it was up to the authorities to find alternative routes for the movement of people and vehicles during such public gatherings.

At the time of rejecting Kumar’s initial request, the Coimbatore assistant commissioner of police cited threats to the prime minister from international and domestic religious and extremist organisations.

The police also cited the presence of important government establishments, hospitals and educational institutions on the roadshow’s proposed route. They said that the event may hamper the public examinations that are underway for students of Class X and XII in the state.

“If it is a public meeting, it is easy to screen every participant with the support of Door Frame Metal Detector and Hand Held Metal Detector,” the assistant commissioner of police said. “It is logistically difficult to conduct checks on every single person among the large number of people gathered on both sides of the road.”

The police have also banned the flying of drones in Coimbatore till Tuesday in view of the prime minister’s visit to the city.