Hindu outfit moves SC, seeks shield for religious processions

NEW DELHI: A Hindu organisation on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to governments of West Bengal, Bihar, Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra to punish those who attacked Ram Navami processions, prevent recurrence in future, and pay compensation to injured devotees and for damage to properties.

Moving an application in Qurban Ali petition, on which the SC had directed Delhi police to take action against alleged hate speech mongers at Dharam Sansad in Delhi, a Lucknow-based NGO 'Hindu Front for Justice' in its plea said the SC "must take stern action in the matter in issue so that in future Hindus may celebrate religious functions as per customs in a peaceful manner."

It said the compensation for injuries to devotees and damage to properties paid by the state must be recovered from the arsonists after due verification and register FIRs against the hooligans. It requested the SC to direct all states to scrupulously implement the guidelines against hate crime laid down by the SC in 2018 in Tehseen Poonawala case.

Objecting to a growing tendency among states not to permit Hindu religious processions through Muslim-dominated areas on the apprehension that it could trigger communal violence, the NGO through advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain requested the SC to issue directions to states to permit peaceful Hindu religious processions through public roads and not decline permission "on the ground that such areas are dominated by Muslim population."

"It is unfortunate that West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee talked about ‘Muslim dominated areas’ and asked the Hindus not to take out processions through such areas. This concept is against the very theme of the Constitution. There is no area that can be considered as a ‘Muslim dominated area’. Every citizen of the country has the right to take out religious procession through public roads in a peaceful manner and such procession cannot be prevented because of the fact that the members of other communities are in a dominant position in such areas," the NGO said.

It said large scale violence by miscreants from Muslim community against Ram Navami processions were witnessed on March 30 at Howrah, Uttar Dinajpur (West Bengal), Sasaram and Nalanda (Bihar), Hyderabad (Telangana), Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Vadodara (Gujarat) and Jamshedpur (Jharkhand). "The Muslim mob attacked, committed arson, damaged the vehicles, pelted stones, assaulted Hindu devotees taking out the Ram Navmi religious processions," it said.