District Judge Kalam Pasha’s action of stopping a dance performance by Mohiniyattom danseur Neena Prasad at Government Moyan LP School evoked sharp protests here on Wednesday.
Lawyers under the banner of the All India Lawyers Union (AILU) staged a protest in court compound demanding “freedom of expression and protection of the law”. The lawyers protested by singing and raising slogans.
“Judicial officers are the ones who should take lead by protecting the law. They should set a good model for the people. They should not be the violators of the law,” said AILU district secretary and former MLA T.K. Noushad.
AILU State secretary C.P. Pramod inaugurated the protest. State council member Jinju Jose presided over the function. Bar Association president K.K. Sudheer, Bar Council member P. Sreeprakash, additional government pleader R. Anand, and AILU district president Vinod Kainad, spoke.
The protestors questioned the judge’s action of stopping the programme well before the permitted time. The Sekhareepuram Library Collective, which organised Neena Prasad’s dance show on Saturday last as part of a cultural evening, had taken the mic permission until 9.30 p.m. However, the judge, who resides in an adjoining compound, stopped the show at 8.30 p.m. by using the police. The organisers said that the police had pestered them to reduce the mic volume and to stop the programme as early as they could from the very beginning of the programme.
Dr. Prasad and her musicians had to leave the stage midway, ending the show abruptly at 8.30 p.m. “It was an insult. We were devastated,” she told The Hindu.
Daring the summer rains on Wednesday evening, a group of protestors under the banner of the Sekhareepuram Library Collective took out a march in the town, condemning the incident. The marchers gagged their mouth as a protest against suppression of freedom of expression.
