Calcutta HC order allowing BJP yatra quashed

Kolkata: Dashing the BJP’s hopes, a division bench of the Calcutta high court on Friday quashed the order by a single-judge bench which allowed the saffron party’s rathyatra 24 hours earlier. It also sent back the matter to the single-judge bench for further hearing.

This came as a shot in the arm of the Mamata Banerjee government that moved the division bench of Chief Justice Debasish Kar Gupta and Justice Shampa Sarkar on Friday morning.

Challenging Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty’s order on Thursday which granted permission to the BJP for its grand procession under some conditions, the state goverment appealed for “urgency” and an immediate hearing. Congress MP Abhishek “Manu” Singhvi, who is on the West Bengal government’s panel of lawyers, appeared on behalf of state DGP Virendra Kumar and additional DGP (law and order) Anuj Sharma.

During the hearing, state advocate-general Kishore Dutta noted that the single-judge bench had not considered the “intelligence inputs” that were submitted in a sealed cover, but also returned it to him without opening it. He was referring to the “intelligence inputs” from 31 police districts and five police commissionerates. Mr Singhvi reasoned that the long procession as part of the rathyatra would create traffic jams which would leave the people inconvenienced during the festive season.

The division bench headed by the Chief Justice observed that the single-judge bench should have examined the intelligence reports before giving its order. It directed the single-judge bench to hear the matter quickly while considering if there were grounds to allow the BJP’s rathyatra. This fresh ruling has left the BJP in a spot. It is yet to decide if it would move the single-judge bench or the Supreme Court as Friday was the last working day before the Christmas vacation.

Senior BJP leader Joy Prakash Majumdar, who was present at the hearing, said: “The division bench set aside the single bench’s order while sending the matter back to the single bench for hearing. We were continuously telling the high court that the state government was desperately trying to stop our rathyatra. We will take a decision soon whether to move the single bench or the Supreme Court against it.” State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh claimed the division bench had not ignored the party’s arguments.

“It did not speak about stopping the rathyatra. It stressed that all government reports should be studied before a ruling,” he said, adding: “We have faith in the judiciary. We will wait for the verdict. After the verdict, the event will be organised as Save Democracy Rally. Till then, we will organise small protest rallies and meetings in the districts.”

Trinamul Congress secretary-general Partha Chatterjee welcomed the division bench’s order. “We always have faith in the judiciary. When the ruling does not go in our favour, we accept it before moving against it at a higher court,” he said. “The BJP leaders are doing a gimmick over the rathyatra. All of them are placing their own views, which are different from each other. So it is not clear what kind of event — rathyatra or Goodbye Yatra — it is going to be. Now they are claiming it will be a Save Democracy Rally.”