The Panaji Bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a Criminal Writ petition filed by Hindu outfit Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik which had challenged an order passed by the State Government prohibiting him from entering the State.
Justice Kl Wadane passed the single-line judgement, after hearing Muthalik’s plea in which the latter had challenged orders passed by the North and South Goa district administration under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) that had barred Pramod Muthalik from entering Goa from 2014 on.
In his petition, Muthalik had argued that “continuous and repeated prohibitory orders” to bar him from entering Goa were illegal and not within the ambit of the District Magistrate’s powers.
Muthalik, who head the Karnataka-based SRS, had also informed the High Court that he was a regular visitor to Goa over the last decade and that he had no criminal record against him, which could attract the ban.
The Goa administration had first banned Pramod Muthalik from entering Goa in August 2014, for a period of two months; an order which was renewed several times over since.