BJP Rally Clashes | "No Unnecessary Arrests, Ensure Protection Of BJP Leaders": Calcutta High Court Seeks Report From State Govt

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the state's Home Secretary to submit a report in respect of the alleged incident related to BJP's Nabanna Chalo (March to Nabanna) rally, which turned violent yesterday and during which, several BJP workers and police personnel came face to face and some of them got injured.

The bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj also directed the state authorities to ensure the protection of the BJP office and also to ensure that no unnecessary arrest is made and no person is unnecessarily detained in connection with the rally.

Essentially, the Court was dealing with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea filed by the BJP pursuant to the arrests of their senior leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari (leader of the opposition) and MP Locket Chatterjee.

The plea alleged that the BJP's West Bengal unit had organized a peaceful protest on certain issues, but their Karyakartas were restrained from boarding buses, trains, or other public transports and were forcibly prevented to participate in the rally.

It was further alleged that attacks were made against the party leaders and in fact, there was an attack on party personnel inside the State headquarter of the BJP and the ingress and egress of the party officials from the party office had been prevented.

It was lastly submitted that many BJP party leaders have been arrested and one of the leaders received a head injury the party office is likely to be ransacked by unwanted elements and it was a peaceful procession that had not been permitted.

On the other hand, the Advocate General opposed the petition and produced the order of Commissioner of Police, Howrah and Executive Magistrate for the Metropolitan Area of Howrah dated 19th July, 2022 to submit that restriction under Section 144(1) of the Cr.P.C. was in force in the town of Howrah from 20th July 2022 to 17th September 2022 and despite this, the protest/rally/march had been organized violation thereof was not permitted.

The Advocate General also submitted that the Deputy Commissioner of Police, HQ, Howrah had denied permission for the rally, and even then, the march had been organized.

Lastly, he denied any such incident alleged in the petition and he referred to Sections 151(2), 152 and 41(1)(e) of the Cr.P.C. in support of the plea of action against those who had obstructed the police personnel and has submitted that no complaints have been made about any incident. 

However, the court decided not to go into the allegations and counter-allegations of the counsel for the parties by stressing that peace and tranquillity is required to be maintained. Further, considering the stand of the Advocate General that the BJP leaders who are arrested, will soon be released on personal bond, the Court posted the matter for further hearing on September 19 as it sought a report of the incident from the State Government.

It may be noted that violence had erupted in Kolkata and its neighboring areas when BJP party leaders started their 'Nabanna Obhijaan/Abhiyan' march/rally as a mark of protest against the corrupt practices of the ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal. 

During the clashes that ensued afterward, several BJP leaders and police personnel sustained injuries. The videos of the said violent clashes are doing rounds on various social media platforms.

Case title - Sukanta Ghosh v. State of West Bengal and others [WPA (P) 470 of 2022]

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