In a major development, the Bombay High Court on Friday restrained the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) from going ahead with the "Maharashtra bandh" called by it on Saturday to protest against the sexual abuse of two kindergarten girls in a school at Badlapur in Maharashtra's Thane district.    

Hearing a public interest litigation filed by activist-lawyers Gunratan Sadavarte and Subhash Jha seeking a declaration of bandh as "illegal" and "unconstitutional", a HC division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar asked all the political parties not enforce a bandh on August 24 or any other subsequent day.

In an oral order passed by it, the HC bench said: "Until further orders, all parties are restrained from proceeding with the bandh on August 24 or any other subsequent date."

The Judges directed the Maharashtra Government to strictly enforce the verdict given in the case of BG Deshmukh and others vs State of Maharashtra and others in which the court had declared that "a bandh or hartal by a political party, organisation or association would amount to an unconstitutional act".

Following the HC order, the Opposition MVA called off its proposed Maharashtra bandh call and said that it would hold silent sit-in protests with black flags and black bands on their faces, all over the state on Saturday.

The MVA leaders -- state State Congress President Nana Patole, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray announced the withdrawal of the bandh call on Friday evening.

On his part, Uddhav said that though the court order was not acceptable to them, they would respect the court verdict and refrain from enforcing the bandh on Saturday.

"The Badlapur incident was very disgusting. Following the incident strong public sentiments emerged in this regard from all levels of the society. The bandh was an attempt to draw the government's attention to this matter. It is within the purview of the Fundamental Rights of the Constitution of India," Sharad Pawar said, adding that the MVA would withdraw the bandh respecting the court and the Constitution.

"Respecting the decision of the Bombay HC, tomorrow from 11 am- 12 pm, all leaders and workers of the Congress party will protest against the anti-women grand alliance government by tying black bands on their faces and holding black flags in all the districts of the State. I myself will participate in this protest tomorrow at 11 am in Thane," Patole said.

"I shall be sitting near Shiv Sena Bhavan from 11 am tomorrow along with others… The court has ordered no shutdown, we shall even shut our mouths with black masks," said Thackeray.

Thackeray also expressed his displeasure at the activists who had challenged the MVA action, saying "that the cause has been ignored… and who will take responsibility for the atrocities on our mothers, sisters and daughters".

Earlier in the high court, the petitioners argued that the State-wide bandh would cripple the entire State machinery and cause great inconvenience to the common people. It was stated that the past bandhs/agitations in the State led to destruction of public property and caused economic losses.

One of the lawyers appearing for the petitioners told the court that the bandh would impact schools, where children get mid-day meals and that it would cause hardships to economically weaker sections of society.

Among other things, the petitioners also argued that the State-wide bandh would cripple the entire state machinery and cause great inconvenience to the common people. They told the court that the past bandhs in the State led to destruction of public property and caused economic losses.

The lawyer appearing for the petitioners questioned the very need for organising a bandh across the State, saying that while the Badlapur sexual abuse case was indeed serious, the State Government had already constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the crime that the High Court had on Thursday heard the case after taking suo motu cognisance of the incident.

The lawyer said the proposed bandh would result in the disruption of train services for ten hours and there had been instances of stone-pelting in the past.

Invoking Article 51A of the Constitution, the lawyer said that it was the fundamental duty of citizens to safeguard public property and abstain from violence.

Alluding to the case of Bharat Kumar K. Palicha And Anr. vs State Of Kerala And Ors (1997), in which the full bench of Kerala High Court had held that calling of a bandh by political parties was ++unconstitutional and illegal. The Kerala HC had also held that the political parties were liable to pay compensation to the government and private citizens for the losses suffered.

It may be recalled that the bandh called by the MVA should be seen in the context of a statement made by Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray was not political but against "perversion" of the crime. He had urged the people cutting across caste and religion to participate in it.

Uddhav had said that the bandh was being observed on behalf of the people of the state.  Coming down heavily on the BJP-led MahaYuti government for the arrests made by the police in connection with the protests over the heinous abuse of two 4 year-old girls at a school, Uddhav said: "Arrests are still taking place in Badlapur. The cases against the protesters must be withdrawn or else we have to hit the streets".

It may be recalled that two 4-year-old nursery girls were sexually abused by a sweeper when they in the washroom of the kindergarten school run by Adarsh Vidya Prasarak Sanstha (AVPS) on August 13 for using the toilet there.

The sexual assault on the two four-year-old girl students took place in the washroom of the kindergarten school run by Adarsh Vidya Prasarak Sanstha (AVPS) on August 13 when the two girls had gone to use the toilet there.

Later on, the parent took up the matter with the school management which lodged a complaint with the police on August 16. However, the police registered a First Information Report (FIR) only 11 hours after their complaint. The accused sweeper Akshay Shinde (23) was arrested on August 17. He will remain in police custody till August 24.