The Bombay High Court has barred political parties or individuals from calling for a Maharashtra bandh. The opposition coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has called for a state-wide bandh on August 24 to protest the alleged sexual assault on two girls at a school in Badlapur in Thane district. A division bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyay and Justice Amit Borkar said the Maharashtra government will take all necessary steps to prevent the bandh.
The bench said the court will soon pass a detailed order on two petitions filed on Friday through advocates Subhash Jha and Gunaratna Sadavarte challenging the bandh call. The High Court said, “We are prohibiting any political party or any individual from calling for a bandh. The state government will take all preventive steps.” State Advocate General Birendra Saraf told the court that the bandh call was illegal.
Saraf said, “The state government will take all steps to ensure that there is no damage to the public or public property. The state will perform its duty, but everyone has constitutional responsibilities, which they must follow.” The court asked Saraf what precautionary measures the government has taken and whether any arrests have been made as a precaution. Saraf said that notices have been issued to some people, but no arrests have been made yet.
Advocates Jha and Sadavarte cited a Kerala High Court judgment which said that no political party can call for a statewide bandh and the High Court has enough powers to intervene in such cases. The advocates also gave the example of the Maratha reservation agitation during which public property was damaged on a large scale. The detailed order of the court is expected by evening.
Along with this, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar appealed to withdraw the call for Maharashtra bandh on August 24 in view of the High Court order. Pawar said in a post on X, “A statewide public bandh has been called tomorrow in view of the Badlapur incident… This was an attempt to draw the attention of the government to this matter.”
He said, “However, the Bombay High Court has declared the bandh as unconstitutional. Due to lack of time, it is not possible to appeal in the Supreme Court against the High Court order (on bandh). The Indian judiciary is a constitutional institution and the call for bandh should be withdrawn in respect of the order given.”
(Input Agency)