Calcutta high court says 'No More' to plea for political rally

KOLKATA: “No more, enough, no more, I will not allow it....” This was the gist of the response on Monday from the Calcutta High Court to a plea for yet another political rally on a working day on the streets of Kolkata.Advocate Mayukh Mukherjee on Monday morning sought permission from Justice Tirthankar Ghosh’s bench for a BJP meeting in front of the Shiv Mandir in Taratala from 4pm to 7pm on Monday itself (he also offered Thursday as an alternative). A Trinamool Congress councillor held a meeting at the same spot last week with a thousand people in attendance, he added, complaining that cops were not allowing the BJP meet.“For the protest rally, go to the division bench.

File a PIL. No more, enough, no more, I will not allow it,” Justice Ghosh said as soon as he heard the plea, advising the petitioner to file a PIL as the matter “involved public interest”.

The city has seen several high-profile political rallies in the recent past, with the latest — a Nabanna march led by BJP seniors last Saturday to highlight the RG Kar issue — ending in a series of cop-protester clashes with injuries on either side.Senior advocate Billwadel Bhattacharya appeared during the course of the hearing, requesting the matter be heard by Justice Ghosh himself as it was his determination and the matter was not a PIL.

“You want to take out a protest, rally, meeting whatever it is for a public cause,” the judge told Bhattacharya, prompting the latter to say that the meeting was being organised by a political party.“Protest, rally before the division bench. I am not going to take it… Right to protest, if it is a PIL, you are doing it for the public at large. I am not going to interfere, the stake is higher than the police refusing. Go before the division bench; I will take it up if it passes an order stating it is a single-bench hearing matter.

I cannot do anything, I have decided to not take up any matter relating to this. Some litigants will be doing it before the division bench, some before me, I will not allow it,” Justice Ghosh responded.A senior advocate later approached the division bench for clarification and then informed Justice Ghosh that the division bench had clarified that rally matters fell in his “determination” (jurisdiction). The division bench did not pass any order but simply asked the senior advocate to convey it to the bench concerned.Justice Ghosh later permitted the senior advocate to file the petition and stated that the matter would be taken up on August 13 as the suggested alternative date for the meeting was August 14."It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." — Charles Darwin