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HC pauses Karnataka order on big gatherings, believed to be targetting RSS
The Karnataka High Court has halted a government order limiting public gatherings to ten, citing violations of citizens' fundamental rights.
The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday stopped the state government from enforcing its controversial order restricting gatherings of more than ten people in public or government-owned spaces, including parks, playgrounds, or roads that was widely believed to be targetted at the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS).
Justice M Nagaprasanna of the Dharawad bench of the High Court, said the government was “prima facie, a clear violation of citizens’ fundamental rights” guaranteed under the Constitution and thus, could not be allowed to continue to operate, adding that the state government was perhaps “trying to achieve something else” through its order.
The state government has already said it will challenge the stay.
The Court was hearing a petition filed by a Hubballi based NGO, Punashchetana Seva Samsthe, seeking that the government order be declared illegal and quashed.
The court proceedings come amidst an ongoing dispute between the state’s Congress government and the RSS over permissions for the latter’s annual route marches.
The government order, issued on October 18 this year, by the home department, declared that any congregation of 10 or more people in public places, including parks, playgrounds, lakes, other water bodies and roads, will be treated as an “unlawful assembly” punishable under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The government claimed the move aimed to prevent “trespass” and maintain law and order, but the timing and tone of the order suggested a deeper political motive especially because it followed a letter by the state’s IT minister Priyank Kharge to chief minister Siddaramaiah urging a ban on RSS events on government and public property.
In his order, Justice Nagaprasanna noted that the government order encroached on an area already governed by the Karnataka Police Act.
“With this Act being in place already, the government order has sprung up. Prima facie, the order takes away rights conferred under Chapter 3 of the Constitution i.e. right to freedom of speech, expression, and assembly under Articles 19(1)(a) and (b). It is trite law that a right conferred under the Constitution can be taken away only by law, not by a government order. If this order is left to stay, it would violate Article 13(2) of the Constitution, which prohibits the State from making any law that takes away or abridges fundamental rights,” the court said.
The Court made it clear that the government cannot bypass legislative processes to impose restrictions through administrative orders.
“Such a government order cannot be permitted to operate,” he said, granting the state time to file its response but staying the order in the interim.
The Court will hear the matter further on November 17.
The government order, though it does not name the RSS directly, sparked an intense political debate , or it was seen widely as targeting the RSS’ route marches and public programmes.
The BJP has accused the Congress government in Karnataka of using state machinery to suppress opposition ideology.
Later in the day, Siddaramaiah, addressing reporters in Bengaluru on Tuesday, confirmed the government’s plan to appeal the stay order. “We will file an appeal petition against the judgment,” he said, adding that his administration intends to defend its authority to regulate public events on state-owned land.
Home minister G. Parameshwara also confirmed that the government would take the matter to a Division Bench. “The court has issued a stay order, and the chief minister has given directions in this regard,” he said.
In a statement, Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra called the stay “a tribute to the dignity of the Constitution and democracy.”
“The order of the State High Court, which has issued an injunction against the Congress government’s directive aimed solely at suppressing the activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is a tribute to the dignity of the Constitution and democracy,” Vijayendra said.
With inputs from Arun Dev
