Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday allowed the West Bengal BJP state unit to hold a rally in Siliguri town in Darjeeling district on July 21 to protest against rising crime against women in various parts of the state.
Incidentally, the Trinamool Congress will hold its annual Shaheed Diwas rally in central Kolkata on the same day.
However, the Siliguri Police Commissionerate refused to grant permission to the BJP rally led by Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari. Following this, the BJP state unit approached a single bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghose and challenged the order of the Siliguri Police Commissionerate denying permission to the rally.
On Thursday, the single bench finally allowed the rally but also imposed certain conditions for its holding. The first condition was that the gathering of more than 10,000 people should not exceed 10,000.
The single bench also said that the processions taking part in the rally should be taken out from one side, so that enough space is left for the traffic. The timing of the entire event will be between 11 am and 5 pm.
Justice Ghose also directed the organisers of the rally to ensure that their political events do not cause any inconvenience to the people or create any law and order problem.
State BJP leaders said that it has become a norm for the police to not allow any political event of opposition parties.
“After this, we get the permission from the court every time. However, such action by the police proves how spineless their top officials have become,” they said.
The Trinamool Congress leader, however, claimed that being a political party, they have no connection with any administrative or police decision.
