March with or without permission, says Dalit body

An organisation of Dalits has said that the Mehsana district administration’s decision to revoke the permission for its Padyatra, planned to mark the first anniversary of the Una flogging incident, ‘is bad in law and malafide’.

The Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch had planned a public gathering on Wednesday and a padyatra from Mehsana to Banaskantha on the same day. Mehsana district administration had given permission for the events through a letter dated June 27, but the same was revoked on Friday.

In a letter to Mehsana district magistrate Alok Kumar Pandey, the Manch wrote that there has been no change in the circumstances since the day the permission was sought. It also said that no opportunity was given to them before the second order was passed, and hence it is in violation of principles of natural justice. The body demanded that the Friday’s order be quashed and set aside.

On Monday, the Manch’s representatives met Mehsana SP Chaitanya Mandalik, who allegedly told them that the environment was not right to grant permission for holding the yatra. Kaushik Parmar, co-convener of the Manch, however, said that they would go ahead with the event ‘with or without permission’.