Calcutta High Court Allows Ram Navami Shobha Yatra On Route Proposed By Organisers Despite State's Objection

The Calcutta High Court has granted permission to carry out Shobha Yatra during Ram Navami while limiting the attendance to 500 people and banning any stick, lathi and weapon during the procession.

The Court was considering a Writ Petition filed in this regard by the trust ‘Anjani Putra Sena’ after the state refused them permission on the route that they have been using for a long time.

The Bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh held, "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. There were earlier orders passed by this Hon’ble Court as also it is reflected that the same route is being followed by the organization for a considerable period of time".

Senior Advocate Subir Sanyal appeared for the Petitioner while Advocate General Kishore Datta appeared for the State.

Senior Advocate for the Petitioner undertook that the Petitioner organization will take out a procession only of 500 participants who will have a badge and such persons would only be considered as participants of the procession.

On the other hand, the Advocate General pointed out the conduct of the organization in the previous years and that cases have been registered relating to the rally organized in the years 2022 and 2023. He also 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.

"The order which has been communicated to the petitioner organization/trust is on the basis of certain apprehensions. Since an undertaking has been given by the learned Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner and the said route has been used by the organization for a considerable period of time, mere sporadic incidents should not weigh when two days are left for the rally or the procession, as it would be difficult for the organizers to convince the participants. Thus relying upon the undertaking given on behalf of the petitioner to carry out a peaceful rally/procession, I am inclined to allow the route as prayed for by the petitioner," the Court observed.

It, however, imposed 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.

The Court also ordered that in case there is any violation of the above, the Police authorities would be at liberty to take action.

Cause Title: Anjani Putra Sena vs. State of West Bengal & Ors.

Appearances

Petitioner- Senior Advocate Subir Sanyal, Advocate Anup Dasgupta, Advocate Anindya Sundar Das, Advocate Lokenath Chatterjee, Advocate Sukanta Ghosh, Advocate Sagnik Roy Chowdhury, Advocate Arghya Chatterjee, Advocate Saurajit Mukherjee, Advocate Trijit Mitra

Respondents- Advocate General Kishore Datta, Advocates Suman Chattopadhyay, Tapasi Sinha Palit, Sabyasachi Chatterjee, Swapan Banerjee, Santanu Mitra Sumita Shaw, Amratya Pal

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