Pramod Muthalik can’t go to Goa, says Supreme Court

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi: August 31, 2015: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea filed by controversial Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik against an order restraining him from going to BJP-ruled Goa for six months.

"Who has given you the right to moral police?" the apex court asked as it restrained the right-wing leader.

Last month, authorities in North Goa and South Goa districts renewed the ban on Muthalik’s entry.

"Muthalik and his associates from the Sri Rama Sene have been banned from entering the two districts of Goa for 60 days from July 16 (Thursday) onwards as his aggressive statements and comments could hurt community feelings of certain groups and create violence, riots or an affray resulting in serious law and order problem," a government spokesperson had said.

The ban orders against Muthalik - - were passed by North Goa’s Additional Collector Swapnil Naik and South Goa’s District Collector Sachin Shinde respectively.

Muthalik, infamous for his hate speeches, first shot to notoriety nearly a decade ago after beating up patrons of a Mangalore pub. He was first banned from entering Goa by the then Congress government in 2009, after he publicly announced that he would try to curb the pub culture in Goa and try and establish Hindu culture in the state.

The ban was subsequently renewed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government in 2014.