The judgment established that personal liberty, including freedom of movement, is a fundamental right protected under the Constitution of India and cannot be arbitrarily restricted without legal justification.

The petitioner, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, represented by its Legal Wing Secretary, has filed the above Writ Petition to issue a writ of mandamus forbearing the respondents and their subordinate officials from in any manner preventing or interfering or interrupting the visit of party's working President Mr.M.K.Stalin to anywhere in the State of Tamil Nadu for the purpose of visiting the water bodies under desilt process by the petitioner party's cadre.

2. The brief case of the petitioner is as follows:

(i) According to the petitioner, due to the prevailing dry weather in the State, it is imperative to desilt water-bodies so that they are able to hold water through the rest of the year. Since the State Government has not undertaken any desilting of water-bodies in the State, the party's Working President Mr.M.K.Stalin, Leader of the Opposition, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, requested the party cadres to desilt the water-bodies like ponds, tanks, etc in the State, so that the people may not face water scarcity and agriculture would not be adversely affected.

(ii) According to the petitioner, as requested by the Working President, in many places across the State, ponds and tanks have been desilted by the party cadres. The petitioner has also stated that the Working President is touring the State to inspect the desilted ponds and tanks and to appreciate the efforts of party cadres and has so far visited Chennai, Kanchipuram, Thoothukudi and most recently, Tiruvannamalai, where a pond has been desilted by the party cadres. Fazed by the enormous support from the people of the State for the party's desilting campaign, the State Government and the Ruling Party have adopted various methods using machinery of the State Government and the District Administration to thwart the campaign.

(iii) When the Working President was tavelling to Konganapuram, Edapadi Taluk, Salem District, via Coimbatore, by car to Salem from Coimbatore to inspect the Kacharayankuttai Tank near Konganapuram, which has been recently desilted by the party cadres and to interact with the public on various social issues, his car was stopped by the police near Kaniyur Toll Plaza and he, along with other party cadres were forcibly taken to a Marriage Hall and detained. Later, an order, passed by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Salem City, denying permission for holding a human chain protest demanding withdrawal of NEET exam, was produced and used as justification for detaining Mr.M.K.Stalin and preventing his visit to Kacharayankuttai Tank.

(iv) According to the petitioner, the human chain protest was in no way connected with his visit to Konganapuram, a sub-urban area in Salem District. The order passed by the Assistant Commissioner of Police is the subject matter in a Writ Petition in W.P.No.19473 of 2017, in which this Court had granted an order of interim stay on 27.07.2017.

(v) According to the petitioner, due to the illegal detention, the Working President was prevented from reaching Salem and interacting with the public and DMK cadres. The human chain protest to be held in Salem, Namakkal and Erode Districts were also cancelled. As a result, he was forced to abandon his visit and return to Chennai.

(vi) According to the petitioner, the Ruling Party, the District Administration, Police and Officials of the State Government acted to prevent his visit to the desilted Kacharayankuttai Tank is an apparent act of political retaliation as the tank is located in the constituency represented by the Hon'ble Chief Minister and his visit would only highlight the lackadaisical attitude of the State Government towards water management.

(vii) The petitioner has given a representation to the respondents on 28.07.2017 informing them that the Leader of the Opposition would visit Kacharayankuttai Tank and also requested them to instruct the Officials not to interfere with his visit.

(viii) According to the petitioner, freedom of speech, movement and assembly, being fundamenta