By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Wednesday expressed concern over the plight of the common man in Mumbai who is caught in the mayhem caused by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists to protest the arrest of party chief Raj Thackeray.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan expressed concern while hearing Cuttack archbishop Raphael Cheenath’s plea on the probe into the rape of a nun in Orissa’s Kandhamal district Aug 25 during anti-Christian violence.
The plight of common Mumbaikars caught the attention of Chief Justice Balakrishnan as Colin Gonsalves, counsel for the archbishop sought, to apprise the court of the continuing and recurring violence in the district, erupting one day in one corner and another day in another corner.
As Gonsalves attributed the recurring violence to “lack of political will” to contain it, the chief justice observed: “It’s very easy to talk of all these principles, but it’s very difficult to implement them.”
“See what happened yesterday? For the sake of one person, the common man had to face hardship and suffering. He was unable to catch the bus to go to office?” said the chief justice, without taking the name of the MNS chief.
Raj Thackeray was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday for violence against non-Maharashtrians, following which his supporters damaged buses, taxis and attacked people, disrupting normal life in Mumbai.
“These things can be settled through dialogue between conflicting groups,” said the chief justice.
Later, while passing his order on the archbishop’s plea, the chief justice also wanted the Orissa government to initiate dialogue between Hindus and Christians to ensure their “peaceful co-existence” in the state.