High Court faults police for chaos at public events

CHENNAI: The chaos during AR Rahman’s concert and the ruckus that fans created at a theatre in the city during the screening of ‘Leo’ trailer could have been avoided if the police had taken the necessary steps and offered protection, said the Madras High Court.

Justice G Jayachandran made the comment while hearing two petitions seeking to direct the police to permit RSS route marches and public meetings at Salem and Krishnagiri on October 29. The counsel for the petitioners contended that the police kept the outfit’s request pending for a month without taking any action and then rejected it.

This prompted the judge to wonder aloud why the police always denied permission for public events, and cited the incident that happened at Rohini theatre during the screening of Leo on Thursday evening. It could have been averted if the police had provided necessary protection for the event, said Justice Jayachandran, who also mentioned the chaos at Rahman concert.

The additional public prosecutor contended that the routes through which the Saffron outfit wanted to undertake the march were dotted with mosques and churches, which prompted the police to deny permission as a precautionary measure to prevent any law and order issue.

Special Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohammed Jinnah added that a wrong narrative was being set on social media that the police refused to give permission for 'Leo' audio launch. He clarified that the organiser of the event anticipated a large number of Vijay fans to turn up for the event, was apprehensive of this causing trouble and cancelled it on his own.

After the submissions, the judge directed the police to respond to the RSS representation and adjourned the matter to October 11.