Chennai, Sept 22 (BPNS)

The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Tamil Nadu police to grant permission to the RSS to conduct a state-wide march and musical procession on October 2.

The single bench of the Madras High court represented by Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan orally directed the state police to grant permission to the RSS march by September 28.

It may be noted that a group of RSS functionaries had approached court stating that the Tamil Nadu police was prejudiced against their organization and was sitting on their request for granting permission to the march.

The petitioners said that the RSS was planning to conduct marches accompanied by musical processions only in 50 spots across the state and that the RSS was a nationalist organization. The petitioners also informed the court that the march was to be held on October 2 as it was a Sunday closest to the foundation day of the organization, September 27. They also claimed that the date was also chosen as it was Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday also and the RSS was conducting the programme nationally.

The petitioners said that the cadres were taking part in the march wearing Khaki Shorts, white shirt, black cap and black shoe and said that the march was intended for promoting ‘communal and social harmony.

The petitioners also said that no participant will carry any arms and that no inconvenience would be caused to the general public due to the march.

The state government in its argument said that the organization had not given the exact details of the spots where the programme would be organized and hence the police was yet to grant a decision.

The single bench of the Madras High Court orally directed the state police to grant permission before September 28 to the programme with reasonable restrictions.

The court also said that it would give a detailed order on the petitions later.