The Supreme Court has exempted Tamil Nadu Home Secretary P. Amudha and Director General of Police/Head of Police Force Shankar Jiwal and other officials from appearing in person before the Madras High Court in contempt of court proceedings, related to an RSS route march case.
In an affidavit filed before Justice G. Jayachandran who had issued statutory notices requiring the presence of the officials on the contempt plea, the DGP/HoPF said, the judge had passed an order on October 16, 2023, directing the police to grant permission for the route marches.
However, the order copy was made available to the police department only on October 18, 2023 and it filed an appeal before the Supreme Court on October 19, 2023. The appeal was numbered on October 20, 2023 and listed for hearing before the apex court on November 3, 2023.
On November 6, the Supreme Court directed the police to grant permission for the route marches. The order was complied with and the marches were conducted across the State on November 19. The development was also reported to the apex court on November 20, 2023.
In the meantime, some of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) office-bearers filed a contempt of court petition against the Home Secretary, DGP/HoPF and other police officials before the High Court and it ordered statutory notices to those officers on October 30, 2023.
On being informed about the contempt proceedings, the Supreme Court on November 20, 2023 granted liberty to the officials to apprise the High Court about them having availed of their legal remedy of an filing appeal immediately after the receipt of the order on October 19, 2023.
Further, to find a permanent solution to the granting of permission for RSS route marches in the future, the apex court directed the State police to submit a proposal before the High Court listing out the conditions under which they would permit the marches from next year onwards.
Until the High Court passes necessary orders after considering the proposal, the presence of the officials shall be dispensed with, the Supreme Court had ordered. The DGP informed Justice Jayachandran of the apex court order and also submitted a proposal containing a list of conditions.
The judge directed the RSS office-bearers to respond to the proposal submitted by the DGP and adjourned further hearing on the contempt plea to December 8.
