K. Chandru, J.

The petitioner is the organiser of the Peoples Watch, a Non-Governmental Organisation, functioning as a Human Rights Watch Group in the State of Tamil Nadu. The petitioner Peoples Watch claims that they are also running a Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims (RCTV) and also a movement called Citizens for Human Rights Movement (CHRM). They are concerned about the increased encounter killings in the State of Tamil Nadu and they have been conducting programmes with reference to preventing the encounter killing by the State police and also to sensitize all concerned about following the guidelines issued by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on such encounters.

2. As part of their campaign, they wanted to have a public meeting on 04. 2007 at Mayiladuthurai (Nagapattinam District) and the meeting was to be presided over by the Director of Peoples Watch. It was stated that in the meeting, apart from the Director of Peoples Watch, the organisers had intended to invite retired High Court Judges, lawyers, journalists, educationalists, human right activists and political personalities. The place in which the meeting was to be held was either in the pla