Calcutta HC denies permission to block Red Road for Hanuman Jayanti on Saturday
Telegraph | 13 April 2025
The high court on Friday denied permission to an outfit to block Red Road for Hanuman Jayanti on Saturday and recalled the historic Khilafat Movement to explain the Eid prayers there.
An outfit that calls itself the Viswa Hindu Sevadal had appealed to the court of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh for a nod to Hanuman Chalisa Path on Red Road, blocking traffic from 5am to 11am on Saturday.
The outfit had cited the Eid prayers and the Durga Puja carnival as precedents for blocking Red Road.
Justice Ghosh refused permission. “Do you know the history of the Khilafat Movement? This practice started in 1919... Earlier, the prayers were held at Shahid Minar, but it had to be shifted to Red Road because of waterlogging there,” a lawyer present in the court quoted the judge saying.
The petitioners cited the Durga Puja carnival. At this, the state’s counsel said it was state-approved and that UNESCO had identified Calcutta’s Durga Puja as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The petitioners claimed they had necessary permissions from the army, under whose jurisdiction the Maidan falls.
Justice Ghosh refused. He, however, said he could hear the case as a contested application and asked the state to file an affidavit-in-opposition. The petitioner was told to file a reply. The matter was fixed for hearing in July. The petitioner then hurriedly moved the division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnananam.
The division bench rejected the prayer and directed the outfit to hold the programme either on RR Avenue or at Shahid Minar and asked the state to ensure no law and order problems in the area.