Delhi HC junks plea seeking national anthem or national song status to ‘Vande Matram’

JNU violence: HC asks cops to seize WhatsApp groups' phones

The Delhi High Court on Friday nixed a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to declare “Vande Mataram” as the national anthem or the national song.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar, exercising its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution, said, ‘We find no reason to entertain this petition.’

‘We see no reason to give direction to the respondent (Centre) to declare Vande Mataram as national anthem or national song,” the bench added.

The petition was filed by BJP Leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay wanted that ‘Vande Mataram’, written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, be given the same respect as the national anthem, ‘Jana Gana Mana’ penned by Nobel laureate  (UNI)