The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the Gwalior district administration to ensure that print and electronic media refrain, for now, from publishing any news related to a protest call over the proposed installation of Dr B. R. Ambedkar’s statue on the premises of the court’s Gwalior Bench.
A division bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf issued the interim directive on Wednesday while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by P. G. Najpande of the NGO Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch. The petitioner claimed that the planned protest on November 16 could threaten “the life and property of the people, particularly children” in Gwalior.
Two groups of lawyers at the Gwalior Bench have taken opposing positions on the proposed installation of Ambedkar’s statue within the court premises. One group strongly supports the installation, while the other is firmly against it.
The protest call for November 16 has reportedly been given by Anil Mishra, former president of the High Court Bar Association’s Gwalior Bench.
Represented by advocates Sanjay Agrawal, Arpit Agrawal and Ankita Singh Parihar, the petitioner argued that past agitations in 2018 had caused significant disturbance, and a similar situation might arise again if the protest proceeds.
The PIL requested the court to issue an interim direction to print and electronic media to avoid publicising the protest call to prevent escalation.
Acting on the plea, the bench directed the authorities to temporarily restrain media coverage of the protest call.
The order reads:
“…direction is issued to the Collector Gwalior to instruct the print and electronic media, particularly the local media of Gwalior, not to publish any news with regard to the call given by Respondent No.5 (Mishra) for 16.11.2025 and its connected and related issues till the next date of hearing.”
The court also issued notices to Anil Mishra and the Bhim Army, an Ambedkarite and Bahujan rights organisation, seeking their response by December 3.
