Calcutta High Court Reprimands Kolkata Police For ‘Computerised Rejection’ Of BJP Rally Permission
The Calcutta High Court has recently reprimanded the Kolkata Police authorities for denying permission to the Bharatiya Janata Party (“BJP”) from holding a rally within Kolkata on two separate occasions, through “auto-generated e-mail communications.”Petitioners contended that their initial application had been rejected through an auto-generated email stipulating that they had not...
The Calcutta High Court has recently reprimanded the Kolkata Police authorities for denying permission to the Bharatiya Janata Party (“BJP”) from holding a rally within Kolkata on two separate occasions, through “auto-generated e-mail communications.”
Petitioners contended that their initial application had been rejected through an auto-generated email stipulating that they had not applied within the relevant timeframe. Thereafter when the petitioners had changed the dates for their rally and delivered an online as well as physical application to the police authorities, they were met with the same auto-generated response.
In reprimanding the police authorities for their non-application of mind and allowing the petitioners to hold their rally on 29th November, a single-bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha held:
This Court is unable to appreciate as to why a mechanical computer-generated reply in this form is given by the respondent despite the applications having been made within two weeks before the proposed date of the rally. Such two weeks’ notice as a requirement has been confirmed by the official of the State present in Court. There is clear non-application of mind on the part of the respondents. It also appears that the respondents have a pre-decided computer fed negation to any request from the petitioners. This cannot be accepted in law.
Petitioners counsel submitted that the two ‘mechanical rejections’ of the petitioner’s application by the office of the Joint Commissioner of Police for identical reasons, was “ridiculous and motivated.”
It was submitted that the respondents did not want to allow the petitioners to hold a rally or a gathering at all.
State counsel submitted that he had received instructions only a while ago and the reply of the police authorities sent to the petitioners was automatic in nature.
Accordingly, the Court took exception to the police’s automatic rejections of the petitioner’s applications and allowed permission to the petitioners to hold their rally.
Case: Jagannath Chattopadhyay V The State of West Bengal and others
Case No: WPA 26206 of 2023