High court asks for prohibitory order record

BENCH ASKED HOW SUCH A LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WERE ALLOWED TO GATHER DESPITE ORDERS

CHANDIGARH:The Punjab and Haryana high court has asked the Haryana government to produce record pertaining to the imposition of prohibitory orders on the assembly of persons in Panchkula ahead of violence on August 25, 2017, the day Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim was convicted in two rape cases. The prohibitory orders were issued under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc) by then district magistrate.

The details regarding the same were asked for by the full bench presided over by justice Rajiv Sharma during the resumed hearing of a 2017 petition on the violence, which had resulted in deaths of more than 30 persons in Panchkula.

During the hearing, the bench asked as to how such large number of people were allowed to gather, despite the imposition of prohibitory orders. Earlier, senior advocate Anupam Gupta, who is amicus curiae in the case had submitted that in 2017 too, the court had questioned Haryana as to how the administration had not mentioned in the order that assembly of more than five persons would not be allowed the city.

The bench was informed that a change in the prohibitory order was made against the assembly of more than five persons after the flaw had come to light during a hearing in court. The court observed that it would like to examine what was the record before the DM, which prompted him to issue prohibitory orders.

Gupta continued with his arguments regarding the right of the people to protest and the government’s right to regulate it.