Rajasthan HC issues notice to Centre,state govts

'Why should elected representatives blockading roads not be booked for waging war?'

The Rajasthan High Court on Monday sought explanation within a week from the Centre and state government,as to why elected representatives participating in or supporting agitations which led to rail and road blockades,should not be booked for waging war against the country.

A single judge bench of Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari issued show cause notices to the Central Home Ministry,Chairman of Railway Board,Chief Secretary of Rajasthan,Director General of Police (Rajasthan) and General Manager,NW Railway,in the wake of agitations in recent past during the Jat stir as well as the Gujjar agitation that crippled train and road transportation in the state.

The Court passed this order on a writ petition filed by Kashi Purohit,a resident of Jaipur through his counsel Abhinav Sharma.

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Sharma said that the right to travel across the territory of the country was a fundamental right but that does not mean that any person agitating for a demand has rights to block the public transport system.

“We brought to the notice of the court that Rajasthan being a state having international boarders,is required to have great significance from defence point of view and agitations like ‘rail roko’ or ‘road roko’ posed a national threat to the country.

“Even elected representatives,chief ministers,Member Parliaments and MLAs supporting such agitations need to be booked for waging war against the country,treason and need to be detained under National Security Act,” Sharma said.

The petition also stated any criminal case once registered against any person found involved in such agitation should not be dropped and no arms confiscated from such agitating persons should be returned.

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