The Madhya Pradesh High Court (HC) has directed the authorities to restrain the media for the time being from publishing any news linked to a protest call over the proposed installation of Dr BR Ambedkar’s statue on its Gwalior bench’s premises. The directive by the division bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf on Wednesday came on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by PG Najpande of NGO Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch, claiming that the protest on November 16 will pose a “danger to the life and property of the people, particularly children”.
Two groups of lawyers are at loggerheads in Gwalior over the installation of Ambedkar’s statue on the court premises. One insists that the statue be installed, while the other is opposing it tooth and nail. The group opposed to the statue on the court premises has called for a protest in Gwalior on November 16. According to the petitioner’s counsels Sanjay Agrawal, Arpit Agrawal and Ankita Singh Parihar, ex-president of the High Court Bar Association’s Gwalior Bench, Anil Mishra has given the protest call.
Citing some agitations of 2018, the PIL claimed that the November 16 protest will pose “a danger to the life and property of the people, especially children in Gwalior”. It also sought an interim direction to the print and electronic media not to give publicity to the said call. The HC asked the district administration to restrain the media for the time being from carrying any news linked to the protest call. The court also issued notices to Mishra and the Bhim Army, an Ambedkarite and Bahujan rights organisation, returnable by December 3.
