The Human rights court has ruled in favor of pressure group, Let My Vote Count Alliance, in a case against the Attorney General and the Police service.
The Human Rights court, presided over by Justice Dennis Dominic Adjei, ruled in the favor of the Let My Vote Count Alliance over the mandate of circuit court’s interpreting the public order act.
This ruling means that the police can no longer seek injunctions from the circuit courts to prevent mass demonstrations by pressure groups.
[contextly_sidebar id=”JwPBCmNDHXhys6LZu5sq8MWZBFfjuEIv”]The Accra Regional Police Command had initially secured an injunction to restrain the pressure group from picketing at the premises at the Electoral Commission (EC) in their demonstrations calling for a new voter’s register.
Earlier this year in September, the Police met the demonstrating group with excessive aggression ending the march abruptly after the demonstrators veered off the agreed routes which did not include the premises of the EC.
Some of the demonstrators were whipped with canes and batons amidst teargas whilst others were arrested in the process.
At the crux of the defendant’s case, they sought clarification on whether it was right for the circuit court to entertain matters that had to do with any public order act and whether it was right for ex-parte injunctions by the police on the blind side of the demonstrators.
The convener of the Let My Vote Count Alliance, David Asante, who expressed delight at the latest ruling in an interview with Citi News
He noted that Justice Adjei said “It was purely wrong for the police to have gone through such crude methods going to acquire ex parte injunction on the blind side of the demonstrators and he warned that further on, ex parte injunctions should be sought not on the blind side of the demonstrators but they should rather come on notice.”
Mr. Asante called the ruling “good news” and a “win for democracy.”
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana