The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday reserved its order on a public interest litigation filed by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh concerning the communal violence that broke out in three districts of the state in December 2020.
A division bench of Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Binod Kumar Dwivedi at the Indore bench reserved the verdict after hearing all sides.
Singh’s PIL, filed in 2021, said the violence in Indore, Ujjain and Mandsaur was triggered during rallies linked to an alleged fundraising campaign for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. He claimed certain organisations had disturbed communal harmony under the pretext of collecting donations.
During the hearing, Singh argued that the state had failed to implement the Supreme Court’s detailed 2018 guidelines aimed at preventing communal violence, mob attacks and hate speech. He also said victims of the December 2020 incidents had not received adequate relief or rehabilitation.
The state government opposed the submissions and urged the court to dismiss the PIL, maintaining that proper action had been taken by the administration and police in all three districts.
The respondents in the plea include the state government and police and administrative officials posted in Indore, Ujjain and Mandsaur at the time of the violence.
The court has reserved its order.
