more-in If people stage protest demonstrations at ‘Dharna Chowk’ near Indira Park causing inconvenience to others, the administrators have power to impose restrictions as per law. “However, you cannot curb the right to speech by not allowing protests there,” the Hyderabad High Court said on Tuesday. Making this observation after hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition, the HC directed the government to explain precise reasons behind the move and file an affidavit in two weeks. The petition was filed by Congress leader Hanumantha Rao in 2017. It came up for hearing for the first time on Tuesday before the division bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice V. Ramasubramanian. The counsel for the petitioner C. Damoder Reddy presented to the bench that Dharna Chowk used to be the place where people gathered to register their protest against government policies. The police were not allowing anyone to go there now, he argued. The bench observed that the government was precipitating the issue by not filing a counter even a year after the petition was filed. Referring to the government action, the CJ drew a parallel with the erection of mobile phone signal towers in the city. Lot of people approach the authorities and the courts complaining about the installation of such signal towers amid residential localities citing the harm caused by radiation emanating from the towers, but the towers cannot be located in forests far away from the city because the users of mobile phones in city need signal, the CJ said. These towers are bound to be located in the city. If the protest programmes organised by people at Dharna Chowk result in inconvenience to others, the authorities can regulate the demonstrations by imposing restrictions, the bench said. A person would be helpless if he or she cannot have the right to protest, the bench observed. “If demonstrations are to be organised only outside the city, what will the agitating crowds achieve and who would listen to their grievances,” the bench said. The HC had also taken suo moto a letter written by former Osmania University professor P.L. Vishweshwar Rao as PIL petition on the same matter. Appearing as party in person, Mr. Rao said the government cannot expect people to go 50 km away from city to express their resentment or register their protests.

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