Ahmedabad, Apr 17 (PTI) The Gujarat High Court on Monday issued a notice to the state government over a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking its direction to videograph and provide proper security arrangement for religious processions to avoid communal violence.

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The division bench of Acting Chief Justice AJ Desai and Justice Biren Vaishnav issued a notice to the state government returnable on April 20.

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The plea filed by Azajkhan Pathan, a former youth president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), sought proper security arrangements for processions to be taken out on the occasion of Parshuram Jayanti and Ramzan — both falling on April 22.

The petition, filed through lawyer KR Koshty, cited increasing incidents of mob violence across the country "instigated by intolerance and misinformation by circulation of fake news and false stories and hate speeches delivered by vested interested groups".

Communal violence during Ram Navami processions in Vadodara and Una last month showed the failure of the state machinery, the petitioner claimed.

There has been a rise in the incidents of communal violence in Gujarat, with several towns reporting clashes in 2021 and 2022 on the occasion of Ram Navami, he said.

He further alleged that the state government had failed to prevent such incidents due to lack of information/input, which shows the failure of the law and order situation.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)