Amit Shah in hot water over public meeting at Goa airport as activist files petition in Bombay HC

Panaji: A social activist on Friday filed a petition before the Bombay High Court against the public meeting held by BJP President Amit Shah in a prohibited area at the Goa airport in Dabolim on 1 July. “The petitioner seeks to ensure that there is no legal infringement and/or abdication of duty within the legal framework by which a government and/or authorities are permitted to allow high handed violation of law,” the petition filed by Aires Rodrigues submitted. A division bench comprising Justice FM Reis and Justice Nutan Sardessai will hear the petition on 10 July. [caption id=“attachment_3775395” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Amit Shah. PTI[/caption] The petitioner has made the Union Civil Aviation ministry, the Director of the Airport Authority of India and Deputy Commandant of Central Industrial Security Force as the respondents. In his petition, Rodrigues has said that probably for the first time ever in the history of the country, a public meeting was organised by a political party on 1 July, 2017 within the high security precincts of an airport when Goa BJP held a public meeting addressed by its party president at the Dabolim aerodrome. On 1 July, Shah, who was on a two-day visit to Goa, allegedly held a meeting at the airport complex in presence of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Union minister Sripad Naik. Rodrigues had then filed a complaint with the Union civil aviation ministry, Goa chief secretary and the state’s police chief, terming the meeting as illegal. The Congress too had demanded that a case of trespass be registered in connection over it. The BJP had initially said the party received the necessary permission for the meeting, which took place “not inside the facility as claimed” by others. However, it later said the crowd which greeted Shah at the airport had gathered there spontaneously and that it was “not a planned meeting”.