The Madras High Court has held that citizens have a fundamental right to carry the national flag during peaceful rallies and processions, making it clear that the police cannot place arbitrary restrictions on such expressions of national sentiment.
Justice V Lakshminarayanan, while dealing with a petition concerning a proposed Tricolour Flag Yatra in Coimbatore, observed that displaying and carrying the national flag falls within the constitutional protection of freedom of expression.
The Court noted that Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b), read together, protect a citizen’s right not only to hoist the Tricolour but also to carry it during peaceful gatherings or rallies. Such an act, the Court said, may reflect national sentiment or, in appropriate circumstances, even serve as a form of peaceful dissent.
The observations came in a petition filed by J Ramesh Kumar, Coimbatore District President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, after police authorities refused permission for a proposed Tricolour rally.
The rally had been planned between 4 pm and 7 pm on August 13. Police cited concerns over public inconvenience, possible disruption of peace and law-and-order considerations in declining permission for the proposed route. An alternative route from Women’s Polytechnic College Junction to VOC Park was suggested.
The High Court, however, found the reasoning behind the denial difficult to accept.
The Court questioned how a gathering intended to pay homage to the nation and its flag could itself be treated as an inconvenience warranting a blanket restriction. Rather than obstructing such events, the police should use their personnel and resources to facilitate them while ensuring public order, the Court observed.
The Court also expressed hope that citizens would not have to repeatedly approach constitutional courts merely to secure permission to peacefully honour the national flag.
Allowing the petition, the High Court permitted the Tricolour Yatra to proceed on August 18 along the route from MTP Road ARC Junction to North Kovai Chinthamani Junction.
The ruling places the emphasis on a balance between maintaining public order and protecting constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, making clear that law-and-order concerns cannot by themselves become a routine justification for restricting peaceful expressions involving the national flag.
