Calcutta HC refuses to prohibit protest march to CM Mamata Banerjee's office
Times of India | 24 August 2024
KOLKATA: Calcutta high court on Friday declined to impose any prohibitory order on the Nabanna march called by the Paschimbanga Chhatra Samaj on Aug 27.
A division bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya passed the order while taking note of the apex court order on peaceful protests from any quarter of the civil society.
At the same time, the division bench took note of public peace, safety, convenience of the public at large and directed the respondents (the organisers of the programme) to disclose their stand within three days from date.
The petitioner, a high court lawyer and resident of Howrah, had moved the court praying for reasonable restrictions on the rally on the ground that the proposed rally route connected National Highway 117 and was dotted with a number schools, hospitals, colleges and public institutions.
Counsel for the petitioner Jaydip Kar urged for reasonable restrictions, not prohibition, on the rally in view of the violence and bloodshed in the same area last year. Kar also pointed out that the UGC-NET examination was scheduled across the country on that date. "The right to protest is subject to reasonable restrictions," Kar submitted.
Kar pleaded for a balance between the right to protest and the right of others.
Justice Tandon said that maintaining public order was the state's prerogative. "They have to take adequate measures. That is their duty," Justice Tandon said.
Advocate general Kishore Datta in his virtual appearance submitted that the state can't exercise its regulatory powers because the organisers of the rally didn't make an application to the police enabling the law enforcing authority to use regulatory powers. Datta pointed out that the call was given through social media.
"The challenge today is that an unknown group of people has given a call for the Nabanna march when the place is under prohibitory orders," the advocate general said.
He submitted that Nabanna is a "public premise" under the law and argued no one can claim to protest at a public premise as a matter of right. The advocate general also placed on record the UGC-NET examination scheduled on Aug 27.
The division bench while taking note of the apex court order on peaceful protests from any quarter of civil society didn't prohibit the rally.