Leave two-thirds of road flank for traffic movement, HC tells rallyists
Times of India | 2 July 2025
Kolkata: Keeping in mind the commuters' woes during a rally, the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday asked the police authorities to ensure that the breadth of political rallies be restricted to a third of the road to ensure there is two-third space for vehicular movement.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh made this observation while granting permission to the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha to organise a rally to protest against the sexual assault at a law college in south Kolkata.
The rally, scheduled between 1 pm and 5 pm on Wednesday, from Kalighat metro station to the opposite flank of the law college, will have to be restricted to a third of the road and leave the rest for vehicles to ply.
The judge told the police that even in future, irrespective of whichever political party organises a rally, the breadth should be restricted so that "at least single alternate plying of the vehicle must be there on the route.
"Justice Ghosh went on to observe that the breadth of the banner being held upfront also needed to be restricted to one-third of the road. For instance, if the road is 20 ft, then the banner can be 6 ft wide.
The BJP's youth wing approached Justice Ghosh's bench to organise the rally. They had earlier proposed to conduct the rally from Kalighat metro station to Kasba police station, but the state turned the request down. The senior standing counsel appearing for the state stated that there had been instances of violence in front of the police station in the recent past.
"So far the end point is concerned, since the investigation of the case and the accused are in police custody, at this juncture I am also inclined to permit the procession to culminate at Kasba PS," the judge held.
Apart from the usual regulations, the high court noted that the organisers had submitted their mobile numbers. "No attempt should be made to injure anyone, throw brickbats or turn aggressive against public servants. In case of a crisis, the organisers will try to dissuade the participants. The protesters will not dislodge the barricades in and around the law college or Kasba police station," Justice Ghosh stated.
Justice Ghosh, during a different hearing, asked the state to come up with a notification earmarking areas where sit-in demonstrations and agitations can be conducted. The judge said: "Ask your principal secretary, Kolkata Police commissioner or Bengal DGP for the rules. Take reports from the SPs and earmark the areas. For Kolkata, ask the police commissioner because they are the ultimate authority who would be responsible for the law-and-order situation".