Madras High Court directs Tamil Nadu police to process route march applications and clears marches for 25 October and 1 November

16 October 2026

Justice V. Lakshminarayanan of the Madras High Court decided V.G. Jagadeesan v. The State of Tamil Nadu, W.P. (Crl.) No. 2790 of 2026 with W.P.M.P. (Crl.) No. 1021 of 2026, reported as 2026 LiveLaw (Mad) 507.
The petitioner is V.G. Jagadeesan, State Secretary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for North Tamil Nadu, who had applied to the Director General of Police on 3 October 2026 after local applications were rejected.
The Court directed that police must process route march applications and try to approve them rather than look for defects to reject them.
It held that processions scheduled for 25 October and 1 November 2026 may proceed, subject to local modifications by district police, with organisers giving advance intimation of route, schedule and contact details.
The Court held that the right under Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution can be restricted only by legislation conforming to Article 19(3), and that the Tamil Nadu police law could not be used to deny route marches.
The petitioner filed an undertaking to comply with the 'Do's and Don'ts' guidelines framed on 5 January 2024, and the petition and the connected miscellaneous petition were closed.