A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday asked top West Bengal government officials to hold a meeting with three BJP representatives to sort out the route and logistics of ‘rath yatras’. Besides, the Bench has modified a portion of the Single Bench order that imposed an injunction on the yatra till January 9 and lifted the injunction.
The Division Bench of Justices Biswanath Samaddar and Arindam Mukherjee accepted the BJP’s appeal against the Single Bench order which had imposed the injunction on the rallies.
The Chief Secretary, the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police will hold a meeting with BJP representatives on December 12, as per the order of the Division Bench. The objective of the meeting is to conduct the rallies in a peaceful manner. The BJP has not been allowed to hold any yatra before the meeting.
“The order passed by the Single Bench is a grave error of law. I propose to modify the order of the Single Bench,” said Justice Samaddar. The Division Bench observed that postponement till January 9 would effectively mean that “two-thirds” of over a month-long time frame for multiple rallies would be over.
BJP’s claim
The BJP claimed that it had first sent a letter to the State government on October 29. On November 5, 12 and 20 reminders were sent to the Home Secretary, while letters were sent (seeking permission for rallies) to the Director General of Police on November 14, 20 and 23, BJP president Amit Shah said in Delhi.
“The Bench expressed its surprise at the ‘astounding silence’ of the State government,” said Jayprakash Majumdar, a BJP leader.
The State BJP described Friday’s court order as “a major victory.”
BJP holds rallies
On Friday, the BJP held rallies in parts of Bengal protesting the alleged attack on party’s State president Dilip Ghosh a couple of days ago. There were processions in Kolkata, Birbhum, Durgapur, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly district in south Bengal and Cooch Behar in north Bengal. In Jalpaiguri, police and BJP workers fought a pitched battle in a forest area, injuring 12 policemen, including Additional Superintendent of Police Thendup Sherpa.
The policemen were outnumbered by the BJP workers and the ASP was “seriously injured after a stone hit him in the eye,” Jalpaiguri Superintendent of Police Amitabha Maiti said. Several cars and buses were damaged in the incident.
Mr. Ghosh alleged that the administration and ruling Trinamool Congress workers obstructed BJP workers to come to Cooch Behar to attend the rally.
Trinamool Congress MP from Cooch Behar Partha Pritam Ray said the BJP’s “violent campaign” would not influence people.
(With PTI inputs)
