
CHENNAI: The police have to act without bias and take a fair decision while considering the applications submitted by political parties seeking permission to hold protests, said Justice P Velmurugan of Madras High Court.
He also directed the police to give reasonable opportunity to the applicant-parties to submit their explanation before taking a decision on granting permission for protests.
The direction was issued while dismissing a petition filed by PMK’s propaganda secretary PK Sekar praying for action against the police for showing discrimination while granting permission for protests.
He also noted the Chennai city police denied permission to his party to stage a protest near Valluvarkottam on January 2 over the sexual assault of a student at the Anna University.
The police cited the ground of mandatory time gap of five days between submission of the application and the date of the stir, he said.
However, the police granted permission to DMK to stage protests against the governor within a single day, he noted.
The petitioner prayed for issuing a direction to the home secretary and the DGP to take appropriate action against the city police commissioner and others for the illegalities and violation of procedure as contemplated under section 41 of the Madras City Police Act with regard to permitting political parties for holding demonstrations.