Bombay HC Declines to Block Jarange's Mumbai March, Cites Right to Protest

The Bombay High Court on Friday declined to restrain Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange from proceeding with his proposed protest march to Mumbai, holding that the Maharashtra government is equipped to deal with any law and order consequences.

A division bench of Chief Justice M C Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna observed that a prohibitory order cannot be issued solely on the apprehension that a situation resembling last year's agitation — when Jarange's hunger strike paralysed south Mumbai — might recur. The judges noted that the right to protest is a legal right and cannot be curtailed merely on the basis of apprehension, adding that the country is a democracy.

The bench directed the state government to ensure that Jarange, who has begun a fresh hunger strike at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district, receives medical assistance if needed. It said the government should step in and hold talks with him, while indicating that the court would intervene only if and when a situation demanded it.

Advocate General Milind Sathe informed the bench that the government had not received any application from Jarange seeking permission for a protest in Mumbai.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Mumbai residents Nilesh Dahanukar and Rajesh Dalvi, who sought judicial intervention to stop the proposed march by Jarange and thousands of his supporters. Issuing notices to the state government and Jarange seeking their responses to the plea, the bench said that if anyone takes the law into their own hands or acts contrary to legal provisions, the state is capable of handling it, and that the court too could deal with a repeat of last year's situation.

Jarange, who is pressing for reservation for the Maratha community in jobs and education, said on Thursday that his march to Mumbai would go ahead, with the date to be announced after his supporters gather at his current protest site on September 12.