The Madras High Court has granted the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh permission to hold processions at 128 venues across Tamil Nadu on October 25 and November 1, while also taking note of a pattern in which state police had continued to turn down applications on grounds that courts had previously found insufficient.

Justice V Lakshminarayanan set a deadline of Monday, October 19, for police to confirm the timings, routes, and venues. The court ruled that the scheduled march dates would stand, leaving open the possibility of adjustments in areas where multiple processions had been arranged for the same district.

The ruling comes as a standoff between the RSS and the Tamil Nadu government over the organisation's right to hold processions continues. At Friday's hearing, the bench noted that the grounds put forward by police for the rejection were ones that earlier judicial orders had already addressed, with the court observing that no fresh basis for refusal had been presented. The judge noted that the explanations put forward had repeatedly aligned with those the court had previously dismissed.

A written request was submitted to the Director General of Police on October 3 by the state secretary of the RSS, outlining a proposed schedule of processions running from 3 pm until 7 pm, with public gatherings to follow. Plans called for the marching columns to include uniformed volunteers walking behind a band playing live music.

Grounds cited by local authorities for withholding approval of applications included route restrictions, the presence of places of worship belonging to other communities, a statue of a rationalist leader, vehicle congestion, loudspeaker use, and the maintenance of public order. The bench was advised that permit denials rooted in concerns amenable to direct conversation between police and event organisers ought to give way to collaborative problem-solving instead.

The roots of the disagreement reach back to 2022, when the High Court set out the terms under which RSS route marches could proceed. A Division Bench reinstated the order on appeal, and when the state carried its challenge further, the Supreme Court turned it away on April 11, 2023. That October, the High Court heard the petitions again and ruled that no religion, group, or background holds exclusive claim over public roads, holding that such thoroughfares remain accessible to everyone.

Prompted by additional Supreme Court directives, the High Court put a set of guidelines in place during 2024 aimed at curbing the cycle of repeat applications for permissions. The bench observed that the conflict had persisted in spite of those directives.

The bench had previously drawn on the folktale of Vikram and Betal to characterise the matter, noting that a settlement had continued to remain beyond reach. In reaffirming its position, the bench held that any restriction placed on the freedom to form associations — a liberty protected under Article 19(1)(c) of the Constitution — is required to rest on defensible legal grounds rather than unchecked discretion. The court indicated that the Tamil Nadu Police Act does not provide a legal foundation broad enough to override the RSS's entitlement to organise public processions.

The judge remarked that it was regrettable both parties had returned to court over the same dispute. He also put the RSS on notice that acting solely on police guidance carried a real prospect of imprisonment. The court found that applying its own procedural framework as a vehicle for harm — rather than the rehabilitative function it was built to serve — effectively turned a protective mechanism against the individual it was designed to safeguard.

Under the court's order, the RSS is bound by conditions that incorporate its submitted documentation — covering planned routes, venue selections, organisers, and anticipated attendance figures — as an annexed schedule. The organisation has since lodged a sworn affidavit pledging adherence to the relevant requirements.

Kanyakumari, Coimbatore, and other districts with a high volume of planned processions received general approval from both parties to spread those events across the two available dates. A meeting between event organisers and officers from the local force has been arranged to work through outstanding logistical questions.

Judges handling future Vijayadashami procession requests from the RSS were advised to receive those applications well ahead of time, given that the festival falls on a predictable date each year. The order directed police to handle applications with an orientation toward approval, rather than looking for grounds to withhold it.

At an earlier hearing, the bench had pressed police on their use of mosques situated along planned march routes and raised questions about the treatment of minority communities. Of the 128 venues where the RSS had applied for march authorisation, law enforcement indicated a readiness to approve gatherings at 58 of them.