Patna, Dec 01: The Patna High Court today reserved its order on the cases related to externment of VHP leaders Pravin Bhai Togadia and Acharya Giriraj Kishore on arrival in the state in August. After hearing the argument of petitioners counsels Tarakan Jha and Pramod Kumar Sinha and advocate general Shashi Anugrah Narayan in the two cases, a division bench comprising Justice S N Jha and Justice B N P Singh reserved their order for a future date.
The petitioners' counsels argued before the court that there were no specific charges against the two VHP leaders and the state government action in packing off Togadia from Patna airport on independence day and Giriraj Kishore the next day was a gross violation of their fundamental rights.
The Advocate General justified the state government's action saying there had been numerous reports of the two VHP leaders vitiating the communal atmosphere through their provocative speeches and the state government's decision was part of a preventive measure to check possibility of any untoward incident occurring due to the presence of Togadia and Kishore.
During the last hearing on November 06, the court had adjourned the hearing in the two cases for Decemeber one at the request of government counsel who sought time due to the illness of the Advocate General.
Two separate criminal writ petitions were filed in the last week of August by advocate Pramod Kumar Sinha on behalf of the VHP challenging the state's decision to extern Pravin Togadia on August 15 and Kishore the day after from Patna airport soon after landing on the apprehension of breach of peace.
Bureau Report