Cal HC grants conditional permission for TMC youth rally in Kolkata, sets aside police ban

Kolkata, Jul 7 (PTI) The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday set aside the Kolkata Police communication denying permission to the Mamata Banerjee-aligned Trinamool Youth Congress to hold a protest rally in south Kolkata on July 8, and granted permission to the opposition camp to organise the event, albeit under strict conditions. The bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya tweaked the proposed route of the rally, which will originate from Ballygungange Phari crossing and move along the Hazra Road, by changing its termination point to Hazra crossing instead of the originally scheduled Landsowne Market on Sarat Bose Road to "minimise inconvenience of the people at large". The court also altered the rally timing from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm instead of the proposed 3 pm to 6 pm slot, forbade the use of loudspeakers and directed the use of handheld microphones instead, keep one flank of the rally route open to allow vehicular traffic movement and mandated dispersal of the crowd, which shouldn't exceed 1,000 participants, once the rally reached its destination. In a writ petition before the court, the petitioner alleged that the permission for the rally was sought on July 1 and was turned down by the Joint Commissioner (Headquarters) on July 6 citing public inconvenience on a working day event and the presence of a hospital in the vicinity and educational institutions in the area. The petitioner further alleged that a similar application for a protest rally on July 2 was disallowed by Kolkata Police last week and accused the authorities of infringing upon the right to organise protests guaranteed by the Constitution. Although the TMC did not disclose the agenda of its protest rally, it is widely believed that the recent horrific crime at Baruipur in South 24 Parganas, where a minor girl was brutally raped and murdered, would prominently feature in the agitation. On Monday, Mamata Banerjee took to the streets to protest the Baruipur incident. The former chief minister took out a candlelight protest march in front of her residence in Kalighat, but was stopped by central security forces at the entrance to the lane. Earlier on Monday afternoon, Rajya Sabha MPs Dola Sen and Pratima Mondal, along with former Speaker of the state legislative assembly Biman Banerjee, visited Baruipur on Mamata Banerjee's behalf and spoke with the family members of the victim. Appearing on behalf of the state in high court and opposing the petition, Additional Advocate General Rajdeep Majumdar referred to a judgment of the court in May, 2023 to argue that applicant should have given a mandatory 15-day notice for the event and uploaded its application for police permission on the designated portal. The court, though, observed there was "no whisper of the inadequate notice stated by the police authorities while turning down the rally permission request". Responding to the state's submission that the rally should be held on a Sunday, senior advocate and petitioner's counsel Kalyan Banerjee argued that the "government cannot control which days an organisation would hold its rallies" and dared the state to file an affidavit in court stating the contention. PTI SMY RG