Direct govt to stop BJP's M'luru Chalo: PIL in high court

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed by residents of Dakshina Kannada district seeking direction to the state government to restrain BJP Yuva Morcha from holding Mangaluru Chalo bike rally and public gathering anywhere in Mangaluru city or within Dakishina Kannada district.

The PIL was moved before a division bench comprising Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar on Tuesday to be heard out of turn. However, the bench refused to hear the matter out of turn and said it will be heard when it is listed and comes up for hearing in the regular list.

The petitioners, Suhail Khan and others have said that they have witnessed communal violence and clashes incited in the name of rallies and processions held by various religious and political groups. The petitioners said they have experienced hardship and misery due to communal clashes, resulting in life coming to a stand still of Mangaluru city and other parts of Dakshina Kannada district recently.

Due to the communal clashes following the murder of RSS worker Sharath Madiwala who was brutally assaulted by members of Popular Front of India (PFI), schools, colleges and business establishment were closed down for over 85 days. This affected businessmen as well as the common man. The past experience has clearly shown the helplessness of the state machinery in bringing normalcy at the earliest on all occasions of communal tensions because of the interference of the political groups, the petition said.

The petitioners have sough directions to Home department, not to grant permission to the BJP Yuva Morcha to conduct rally, procession, gathering by using motor vehicles and loud speakers within Mangaluru city or other parts of Dakshina Kannada and to maintain peace and harmony. The PIL will be coming up for hearing before the division bench on Wednesday.