Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted conditional permission to the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, to hold a demonstration in front of the office of the superintendent of police, Baruipur police district, South 24-Parganas, on Thursday to protest against last week's alleged attack on senior BJP leaders by "police and ruling party supporters".
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh directed the state to allow the BJP leader to hold the demonstration, but with certain conditions.
"The party will have to construct a 20ft x 9ft platform for leaders and the same will not be allowed to be constructed on a private plot or land owned by any school," Justice Ghosh said.
"Not more than 1,000 people will be allowed in the demonstration to be held between 2pm and 5pm. A total of 25 loudspeakers will be allowed... the reach of the sound should be limited to a 500-metre radius," the order stated.
The order followed a prayer by Adhikari and others alleging that the Baruipur police and local Trinamool Congress "hooligans" had jointly attacked the BJP's March 19 rally. Adhikari alleged their vehicles were damaged and at least 50 MLAs, including himself, were attacked.
"In protest against the incident, the party wants to hold a demonstration near the SP's office but local police is not giving permission," Rajdeep Majumdar, who appeared for the BJP leaders, alleged in court and prayed for an order directing the state police to allow them to hold the rally.
Responding to the high court's order, Adhikari said: "Former chief ministers Jyoti babu (Basu) and Buddha babu (Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee) are not alive. They did not try to stop Mamata Banerjee (when she was in the Opposition) in this manner. I can't recall an instance when Mamata Banerjee had to move court to hold a rally. This is new Bengal. This is the 78th time that I have had to seek the court's permission to hold a rally. I am sure by the time the elections are held in 2026, the figure will cross 100."
A case moved by Adhikari, alleging that the police were not taking action against the culprits responsible for the attack in Baruipur on March 19, was heard by the same bench. Appearing for Adhikari, Bansari Swaraj, the daughter of late BJP leader and former Union minister Sushma Swaraj, submitted a pen drive identifying the alleged attackers. Appearing for the state, advocate Sirshanya Bandyopadhyay claimed Adhikari did not submit the pen drive to them. At this, the judge asked the lawyer to hand over a copy of the pen drive to the state by Thursday and fixed the matter for hearing on March 28.
