RIGHTS OF ASSEMBLY?

Today's article from the Hindu on the radical VHP's failed rally in Ayodhya poses an interesting problem for those generally committed to civil liberties:

Ayodhya, Oct. 17 (PTI): The much touted VHP sponsored congregation here for the Ram temple campaign fizzled out today after police foiled the programme by sealing the temple town and preventing its activists from gathering at the Ramsevakpuram, the venue of the proposed assembly.

Though by and large the town and the rest of the State remained peaceful, Karsevakpuram, the complex housing the VHP's central office, witnessed a police lathicharge and firing of rubber bullets when angry cadres clashed with police in the morning after their leader, Ashok Singhal, was arrested.

Before the scheduled start of the 'Sankalp Sabha' (assembly for taking pledge) police also rounded up another senior VHP leader, Ram Vilas Vedanti, and a few thousand activists and ferried them outside Faizabad effectively foiling their plans.

My sense is that arresting Singhal and the other activists was a good idea, given the history of violence in Ayodhya in particular, and given the fact that no official OK for the march could be negotiated (see here). I don't know anything about the details of laws in UP regarding political and religious rallies, however. Read also ToI, here, concerning the release of the activists, the continuing repercussions of the decision to jail them, and criticism from the BJP.