Sakina Tashrifwala
Published on: 28 September 2022 at 18:50 IST
The Kerala High Court dismissed a plea alleging that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was causing traffic jams in the state on Tuesday.
The petition was rejected by the Division Bench of Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P. Chaly because the petitioner failed to present evidence verifying the charges made in the plea. The Court had directed the petitioner to investigate if the police directives about traffic standards to be followed during the Bharat Jodo Yatra were implemented.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which began on September 7th in Kanyakumari and is being led by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, is going through Kerala and heading north via several regions. Rahul Gandhi is accompanied by other members of Parliament, AICC leaders, Chief Ministers of various states, KPCC office bearers, district office bearers, and other Congress party members and sympathisers.
The petition, filed by Advocate Vijayan K, sought an order to manage the Yatra by allowing them to occupy half of the road and leaving the other half open for vehicle and public movement.
The petitioner claims that Rahul Gandhi and others accompanying him are consuming the whole width of the public route they are travelling on, causing traffic jams and hardship for the general people. The Yatra halts the lives of ordinary people in the places through which it traverses.
When the petition was heard today, the government Pleader informed the Court that the journey was calmly travelling across the State and that the police had given the organisers instructions on how to conduct the yatra quietly.
The petition was rejected by the court because the petitioner failed to present documentation verifying the charges made in the petition.