Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has instructed authorities to temporarily prevent the media from publishing any information related to a protest regarding the planned installation of Dr. B R Ambedkar’s statue at the premises of its Gwalior bench. This directive was issued by the division bench consisting of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf on Wednesday, following a public interest litigation (PIL) lodged by P G Najpande from the NGO Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch.
The PIL argues that the protest scheduled for November 16 poses a “danger to the life and property of the people, particularly children.” In Gwalior, two factions of lawyers are in conflict over the statue’s installation, with one group advocating for it and the other vehemently opposing it. The faction against the statue has organized a protest in Gwalior on November 16. According to the petitioner’s legal representatives Sanjay Agrawal, Arpit Agrawal, and Ankita Singh Parihar, the call for protest was made by Anil Mishra, the former president of the High Court Bar Association’s Gwalior Bench. The PIL referenced previous agitations from 2018, asserting that the upcoming protest could threaten the safety of the public, particularly children in Gwalior.
It additionally requested that print and electronic media be temporarily prohibited from publicizing the protest call. The High Court has mandated the district administration to restrict the media from reporting on the protest for now.
