Kolkata, Jul 15 The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the police to allow the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of Trinamool Congress to hold its July 21 Martyrs' Day rally near the Birla Planetarium.
The TMC has been holding the July 21 Martyrs' Day rally in front of Victoria House at Esplanade in central Kolkata for years.
The high court ordered the shifting of the venue from in front of Victoria House to near the Birla Planetarium primarily to ensure smooth flow of traffic and maintain law and order.
After hearing a plea seeking permission to hold the meeting, Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya directed the Kolkata Police authorities to permit the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress faction to hold its July 21 Martyrs' Day rally on the road in front of Birla Planetarium.
Noting that two other Martyrs' Day meetings - one by the Congress party and another by a rival group of the TMC, are also scheduled near the Esplanade area in the heart of Kolkata, the court directed the police authorities to depute adequate personnel to ensure no untoward incident occurs.
Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya directed the Kolkata Police authorities to permit the petitioner organisation to hold the meeting on one flank of the road in front of Birla Planetarium, keeping another flank open to vehicular movement.
The court said the petitioner party must try to keep the number of participants within 2,500.
Kolkata Police authorities were directed to depute adequate personnel to maintain law and order and ensure no untoward incident takes place as there will be three meetings at three different places the same day.
The court directed that the meeting will be conducted between 12 noon and 3.30 pm on July 21.
The petitioners would provide names and mobile numbers of 20 volunteers, who will ensure the court's order is complied with, to the joint commissioner (headquarters) of Kolkata Police, Justice Bhattacharyya directed.
He observed that allowing a meeting in front of Victoria House at Esplanade, as the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC prayed for, was not possible because it would choke the thoroughfares connecting north and central Kolkata.
Moving the prayer for permission for the July 21 martyrs' day rally before Justice Bhattacharyya's court, the faction's counsel Kalyan Banerjee stated that it is being held in front of Victoria House in central Kolkata since 1993 under Mamata Banerjee's leadership, with the exception of two or three years.
Kalyan Banerjee stated that the police permitted two other rallies to commemorate the day - one by the other faction at Mayo Road in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue with 700 to 800 participants and another by the Congress party at Shahid Minar ground with 10,000 participants, both on July 21.
The Mamata Banerjee faction's petition also challenges the Kolkata Police authority's imposition of a prohibitory order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) in the area around Victoria House in Esplanade.
Kalyan Banerjee suggested an alternative venue at the Metro channel in Esplanade or in front of Birla Planetarium, which is about a couple of kilometres away from the other two rallies to be held that day.
He stated that 13 Congress workers were killed during a rally on July 21, 1993, when Mamata Banerjee was the president of Youth Congress and since then, the day has been remembered as Martyrs' day.
The West Bengal government and the police authorities opposed the prayer for holding the meeting near the two other meetings already permitted, saying that it may lead to a law and order issue.
The state also opposed the proposal of Banerjee for holding the rally in front of Birla Planetarium due to the presence of hospitals and schools nearby, considering the proposed number of participants of around 10,000.
Justice Bhattacharyya verbally observed that the people of Kolkata have had bitter experiences during previous July 21 martyrs' day programmes of the TMC, which was at the helm of West Bengal for 15 years, as the city would come to a standstill, preventing even the courts from functioning properly.
