India News | Cal HC Orders Shifting of ISF Rally Venue

Kolkata, Jan 19 (PTI) A division bench of Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the Indian Secular Front (ISF) to relocate its January 21 rally from in front of Victoria House at Esplanade to a different venue. Previously, a single bench of the court had granted permission for the rally to be held at the current location.

Disallowing the permission, the division bench presided by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam directed that the participants will have to abide by all restrictions imposed by the single bench in its order on Thursday.

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The division bench, also comprising Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, directed ISF to accept the venue selected by the state government and conduct the meeting peacefully.

West Bengal Advocate General Kishore Dutta submitted that the government is willing to offer Netaji Indoor Stadium here for the purpose.

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The division bench directed that during the course of the meeting, the persons who address the gathering will not utter any hate speech and not hurt the sentiments of people belonging to other religions or sects.

Permission had been denied by the joint commissioner of police (headquarters) to ISF to hold the rally in front of Victoria House owing to violence at the end of its rally on January 21, 2023.

It was also stated that three programmes are slated on that date, including the Kolkata Police marathon in which approximately 25,000 people will participate.

"A marathon is more important than having these rallies and meetings," the division bench observed, while directing the shifting of the venue of the ISF rally.

Justice Jay Sengupta had on Thursday permitted the petitioner political party ISF to hold a meeting on their foundation day on January 21 in front of Victoria House.

He directed that the participants in the meeting will not use foul language and shall not incite violence.

The court had directed that the entire programme will be videographed by police, as well as the petitioners.

The state was directed to deploy adequate number of police personnel and to render assistance and ensure safety and security of the participants as well as the passersby.

The state submitted before the court that during last year's meeting of ISF at a nearby place on the same date, violence had taken place and police personnel were attacked and vehicles were damaged, leading to chaos on the streets of Kolkata.

ISF's lone MLA Naushad Siddique had been arrested by police in connection with the incident.

Justice Sengupta had directed that the number of participants will be restricted to 1,000 only and the number of vehicles including buses required to be used will not exceed 15 in number.

The petitioners were directed to specify the names of four individuals who will be held responsible for conducting the meeting.

The division bench said on Friday that if there is any violation of any of the conditions or observations made in the orders, the four persons, whose names have to be furnished, will be held personally responsible and appropriate action will be taken against them.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)