Delhi High Court Asks Police To Decide On Permission For Holding Hanuman Jayanti Procession In Jahangirpuri, Says Occurrence Of Untoward Incident Can’t Preclude The Same
The Petition before the Delhi High Court was filed against the denial of permission for holding a procession on April 12, 2025, on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti.
Justice Sachin Datta, Delhi High Court
While asking the Senior Officials of Delhi Police to decide on permission for holding a procession on Hanuman Jayanti in Jahangirpuri, the Delhi High Court has observed that occurrence of an untoward incident in the year 2022, cannot necessarily preclude holding of processions on religious occasions, as per the prevalent practice in the previous years.
The Petition before the High Court was filed against the denial of permission for holding a procession on April 12, 2025, on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. It was brought to the Court’s notice that a Hanuman Temple has been in existence in Jahangir Puri since time immemorial.
The Single Bench of Justice Sachin Datta asserted, “Respondents are directed to endeavour to consider the said application and take an appropriate and timely decision. The authorities may bear in mind that occurrence of an untoward incident in the year 2022, cannot necessarily preclude holding of procession/s on religious occasion/s, as per the prevalent practice in the previous years. It is incumbent on the respondents/police authorities to make adequate security arrangements for the said purpose.”
Central Government Standing Counsel Bhagwan Swarup Shukla represented the Respondent.
Factual Background
The petitioner has been involved in organising processions in the area since the year 2010, on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. However, since the year 2019, the respondents have not granted the requisite approval/permission to hold a procession on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. Initially, the grievance raised by the petitioner was that in the previous years, as also in the current year, the respondents had been remiss in taking timely decisions on the applications submitted by the petitioner to hold a procession.
Reasoning
The Bench took note of a Status Report mentioning that an incident of riot in the area of Jahangir Puri took place in the year 2022, on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti, during Shobha Yatra, in which several rounds of gun firing took place by the rioters, and one police personnel sustained gun injury and several other police/public persons also got injured in the riot. It was after such riots that the permission for procession/Shobha Yatra was not granted to any person.
“In the above circumstances, this Court is not inclined to sit in appeal over the decision taken by the concerned police authorities keeping in mind the security/law and order considerations”, it said.
The Bench noticed the submissions of the petitioners that a route can be drawn up to hold a limited procession, which will allay the concerns of the security agencies/police authorities as regards maintenance of law and order, in the event of such procession being held. The Respondents also stated that in the event of a fresh application being submitted, clearly setting out the route and duration of the procession proposed to be held, the same can be considered by the concerned police authorities.
The Bench thus disposed of the Petition by directing, “Let the matter be suitably examined by the senior officials of the Delhi Police and an appropriate decision be taken and communicated to the petitioner, prior to the date on which the procession is proposed to be held.”
Cause Title: Arvind Mishra v. The Commissioner of Police & Ors (Neutral Citation: 2025:DHC:2509)
Appearance:
Respondent: Central Government Standing Counsel Bhagwan Swarup Shukla Advocates Sarvan Kumar, Satyam Singh, Mukesh Pandey