Kolkata, July 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 TMC 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.
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. (PTI)
