The high court on Thursday refused to disallow a march to the state secretariat on Saturday but said the government was free to implement a prohibitory order, already issued by police.
Should the rally take place, it must be peaceful and the participants must not harm police or damage government property, said a division bench of Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Smita Das De.
“This court declined to pass any prohibitory order as sought for by the petitioner therein. This court poignantly held that the right to protest is a fundamental right. Thus, no case is made out for passing any blanket prohibitory order on the similar protest,” said the formal order uploaded on the court website.
The bench heard a PIL filed by a Howrah resident who sought a directive to the government to prohibit the rally.
August 9 marks a year of the horrific rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital that shook the nation. The parents of the slain doctor and a doctors’ forum have called for the march that is supposed to be apolitical.
On August 27 last year, a similar march to Nabanna seeking “justice” for the victim had sparked widespread violence. More than 40 policemen were injured.
On Thursday, the counsel for the petitioner said that last year’s rally caused “chaos and untoward incidents”.
The court noted that the commissioner of police, Howrah, had already issued a prohibitory order around Nabanna.
“We have made adequate arrangements. Senior officers will be posted in strategic pockets to prevent any type of unrest. We are going through the court order and we will abide by it,” said a senior officer of Howrah police.
The petitioner as well as Bengal advocate-general Kishore Datta argued that no one had assumed responsibility for Saturday’s rally.
“The area is densely populated. In introducing the present protest, no one has taken responsibility. Thus, if any untoward incident takes place, it will be difficult to fix responsibility on anyone,” the petitioner’s counsel said.
Datta echoed him. The protest took an “ugly shape” last year, he said.