HC permits Ganpati pandal with modified decorations on Sena split theme

The Bombay High Court on Friday permitted a Thanebased trust to install their Ganesh pandal with modified decorations based on the theme of the recent split in the Shiv SenaA special holiday bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Madhav Jamdar heard a petition filed by the trustee of Vijay Tarun Mandal challenging a notice issued to them by the police asking them to remove the pandal or face actionThe petitioner informed the bench that it has modified the objectionable portions of the decorationsIn view of this the court permitted the pandal to display the modified decorations subject to permissions from the concerned authoritiesThe petitioner had claimed that they install a pandal each year based on a theme This year the theme was the change in the political scenario in Maharashtra as a result of the Shiv Senas Eknath Shinde faction forming a government with the help of the BJPAlso Read Mumbai They slapped and hit me says woman assaulted in KamathipuraThe decorations were accompanied by audio and video clips narrating details the plea statedOn August 25 the pandal was served with a notice under section 149 of the Code of Criminal Procedure CrPC containing directions to be followed for the decorations failing which appropriate action will be initiatedThe next day the deputy commissioner of the Kalyan police inspected the decorations suggested the petitioner to make changes to the decoration and modify the audio clip which was done the plea pointed outThe petitioner was also asked to remove cut outs of ministers including one of Prime Minister Narendra ModiThe plea states that despite this on midnight of August 31 the Kalyan police officer confiscated the cut outs of the theme and orally directed the petitioner to not display the sameAn FIR was also lodged against the trust alleging sections 153 giving provocation to cause riot and 5052 statements promoting enmity of the Indian Penal CodeA perusal of the FIR shows that the same is politically motivated and no offence as stated in the FIR is even remotely made out the petition statedWhile the trust stated it would take steps to challenge the FIR through appropriate steps the present petition was filed seeking quashing of the notice sent under section 149 of the CrPCThe petitioner also sought for permission from the court to display the modified decorations with the audio clips for the tenure of the 10day festivalThe trustee also invoked their fundamental right to free speech to display their political viewsWhile the bench granted permission to display the modified decorations and audio clips they clarified the same was subject to permissions from the civic authority the Kalyan Dombivili Municipal Corporation KDMCThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever