The Madras High Court today reserved its order on a petition by the DMK seeking to restrain the state government from preventing party leader M K Stalin from visiting water bodies in Tamil Nadu.
The DMK filed the petition after Stalin was detained in Coimbatore by police last month en route to Salem to visit Kacharayanpalayam lake and also to participate in a human chain protest on the issue of NEET.
When the matter came up before Justice M Duraiswamy, the petitioner submitted that Stalin would like to visit the lake along with 128 members of his party.
Additional Advocate General S T S Moorthy, appearing for the state government, submitted that Stalin wanted to visit the lake to boost the morale of his supporters, without informing the police.
The AAG said the government has no objection to his visiting water bodies where de-silting was done by DMK cadres.
Now the situation is not conducive at the village where the lake is located.. If they (DMK workers) are allowed to go, a law and problem will arise, he added.
After hearing the arguments on both sides, the judge asked the AAG, "How can you prevent a person from visiting a place?"
"He cannot be prevented... It is against the Constitution... The prayer in the main petition also covers the interim prayer to allow him to visit the lake," he observed.
When the AAG responded by saying that the lake was not de-silted by the DMK cadres, the judge said, "Let it be".
"What is wrong in visiting the place? Police has to take care of law and order," the judge said.
The judge then directed the DMK's counsel to restrict the number of persons accompanying Stalin to 25 and said he would pass orders.
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