Calcutta High Court Allows 'Anjani Putra Sena' To Carry Out 'Shobha Yatra' On Ram Navami, Caps Attendance At 500
The Calcutta High Court has allowed a plea by the Anjani Putra Sena, seeking to carry out a 'Shobha Yatra Utsav' on the occasion of Ram Navami in Kolkata.Justice Tirthankar Ghosh allowed the plea after imposing a slew of conditions on the organisers, including capping the attendance of the rally at 500 and on the timings of the rally.The petitioner, 'Anjani Putra Sena' is a trust under the...
The Calcutta High Court has allowed a plea by the Anjani Putra Sena, seeking to carry out a 'Shobha Yatra Utsav' on the occasion of Ram Navami in Kolkata.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh allowed the plea after imposing a slew of conditions on the organisers, including capping the attendance of the rally at 500 and on the timings of the rally.
The petitioner, 'Anjani Putra Sena' is a trust under the Indian Trust Act, 1882 which intended to organize a rally named as 'Shri Rama Navami Shobha Yatra Utsav.'
They applied to the police authorities, who proposed two different routes for the procession. Challenging this, the organisation approached the High Court.
Senior advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner urged and undertook that the petitioner/organization will take out a procession only of 500 participants who will affix a Badge and such persons would only be considered as participants of the rally/procession.
It was stated that the petitioner/organization intend to use the route starting from Lord Narasimha Temple along G.T. Road and concluding at Howrah Maidan.
Advocate General for the state, pointed out the conduct of the organization in the previous years along with the cases which had been registered during the rally organized in 2022.
Advocate General pointed out that the police under Section 30 of the West Bengal Police Act, can impose conditions on intelligence reports for deviation of the earlier routes and as such the police authorities have acted within their powers while passing the order.
State also relied upon certain maps to demonstrate the alternative routes which can be availed of by the organization.
Court noted that it is not disputed that the police is not empowered to propose an alternative route. However, the existence of the powers vested in an authority and exercising such powers are two different aspects.
It was stated that the order which has been communicated to the petitioner organization/trust is on the basis of certain apprehensions and since an undertaking has been given by the Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner, with the said route being used by the organization for a considerable period of time, mere sporadic incidents should not weigh against them when two days are left for the rally or the procession,
Thus, relying upon the undertaking given on behalf of the petitioner to carry out a peaceful rally/procession, the court allowed the route as prayed for by the petitioner subject to the following conditions :-
(a) At any point of time, the total number of participants shall not exceed a number of about 500. In order to ensure that the number of participants is limited to 500, the petitioner shall make necessary announcements and issue leaflets, if required.
(b) The organizers shall nominate 10 persons from amongst themselves who shall be held responsible for conducting the procession.
(c) No vehicles shall be permitted in the said procession except for the one, which would carry the tableau and the idol of Lord Rama.
(d) The participants shall not carry or brandish any arms or weapons.
(e) The participants and the organizers shall not use any foul language or incite violence.
(f) The participants shall not carry in the procession any stick, lathi, weapon. However, they would be allowed to carry flags and/or any other symbolic weapons which should be only made of PVC. In case any weapon made of metal is found, Police would be at liberty to seize the same.
(g) The participants shall also abide by relevant pollution norms including sound norms. Only normal sound system i.e. 5/6 microphones be allowed to be used in the procession.
(h) The participants in the procession shall not halt or pause at any place and would continue to gradually proceed towards their final destination. In case there is any violation of the aforesaid, the police authorities would be at liberty to seize the same.
Court directed that adequate trained police personnel be deployed at the procession. The procession will start at 8.30 a.m. in the morning and would take efforts to complete the same by 1.00 p.m. on 06.04.2025.
It also directed that the name of 500 participants with their identity card either in the form of EPIC Card/Aadhaar Card or PAN Card or any other identity card would be submitted to the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Division, Howrah and called for a compliance report be submitted on 09.04.2025.
