Consider plea to hold 'Muslim Mahapanchayat' at Ramlila maidan: HC to police

The Delhi high court asked the police in Delhi on Tuesday to decide by Wednesday a plea moved by Mission Save Constitution, an organisation, for permission to hold the "All India Muslim Mahapanchayat" at the Ramlila grounds next month.

Justice Subramonium Prasad asked the organisation to give the list of speakers at the event to the Delhi Police and listed the case for further hearing on Thursday.

"He is giving the list of speakers today. Please consider it and pass an order. Day after tomorrow, I am hearing the writ petition," the judge told the police counsel.

"Either you say that you have already taken a decision to reject the application (for permission), then I will proceed ahead based on the judgment of the Supreme Court," the judge added.

On November 25, the court asked the authorities to consider the feasibility of holding the mahapanchayat at the Ramlila grounds on December 18.

Mission Save Constitution had earlier approached the court stating that it is aggrieved by the pendency of a decision by the deputy commissioner of police, Central district on its application seeking a no-objection certificate for organising the "All India Muslim Mahapanchayat" on December 4 at the Ramlila grounds.

The court had said last month that once the festive season was over, the petitioner was free to approach the authorities for permission to hold the event after submitting the list of speakers and giving a proper assurance that the event would not raise communal tension in the area.

The counsel appearing for the Delhi Police, Arun Panwar, said the authorities are not against the fundamental rights of the petitioner but there are law-and-order concerns.

In a status report filed in the case, the city police said a large religious gathering as proposed by the petitioner in an area that has a mixed population is alarming and in the interest of communal harmony and law and order, the petitioner should change the venue of the event.

It also said it has already given an NOC to Maha Tyagi Seva Sansthan for organising the "Mahayagya for Vishwa Jan Kalyan" at the Ramlila grounds from December 3 to 15 and therefore, the venue is not available for the petitioner on December 4.

The report said being in the vicinity of the New Delhi railway station, commercial hubs and hospitals, a 12-hour rally is deemed impractical in central Delhi as there is a probability that it will disturb the general public.

Mission Save Constitution has said in its plea that it wants to initiate a series of events for strengthening the weaker sections of the society, beginning with minority communities and followed by other communities like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, and that the voice of all the oppressed would be raised at its meetings.

The organisation, headed by advocate Mehmood Pracha, has said it works to raise awareness among the masses, especially the oppressed classes, about their rights as enshrined in the Constitution and for utilising the constitutional and legal provisions for the alleviation of their distress and suffering.