The Hindu : Court rejects petition against Bharat Uday Yatra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 03, 2004

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Court rejects petition against Bharat Uday Yatra

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, APRIL 2. The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition seeking a stay on the `Bharat Uday Yatra' undertaken by the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, on the ground that it would lead to communal tension and bloodshed.

A three-Judge Bench, comprising the Chief Justice V. N. Khare, Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice S.H. Kapadi, told the petitioner, S. Veeraraghavan, a Chennai-based lawyer, that there had so far been no reports of Mr. Advani speaking on religion. The yatra apparently was purely for political purposes. Moreover, the Advocate General, Tamil Nadu, had given an undertaking that the State would take all steps to ensure law and order. [The yatra subsequently crossed Tamil Nadu].

The petitioner submitted that the yatra would pass through Ayodhya on April 5 and there was an apprehension of communal tension. The yatra, therefore, should not be allowed to proceed further. The Bench said mere apprehension was not a sufficient cause for action.

The High Court had, on March 5, dismissed the lawyer's petition following an assurance given by the State's Advocate General, N.R. Chandran, that all precautionary steps would be taken to ensure that there were no untoward incidents during the yatra.

The petitioner in his SLP submitted that the High Court had failed to note that Mr. Advani could not be allowed to arouse communal passion in the guise of election campaign. Citing earlier instances, the petitioner said that the High Court had overlooked the fact that Mr. Advani's rath yatra was a subject of a controversy. He alleged that it had affected communal amity among various groups of citizens, resulting in a grave law and order situation. He sought a direction setting aside the High Court order and restraining Mr. Advani from proceeding with the yatra.

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