Court bans Kolkata rallies

The Calcutta high court on Monday banned rallies and processions in the metropolis during weekdays between 0800 hours and 2000 hours.

The order, passed by Justice Amitava Lala after hearing Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M K Singh and other officials, came following a suo motu contempt rule by the justice against the Kolkata traffic police on September 24 when rush hour traffic was dislocated for about two hours and the judge was held up in a traffic snarl.

On Sundays and public holidays, political parties will be able to hold rallies with requisite police permission, the order said, and directed that processions would have to move in an orderly manner without hampering traffic movement.

Justice Lala, who admonished the police authorities for their failure to control traffic, said in his order that any person, if affected due to rallies or processions, may move the appropriate court for compensation.

Such a suit, he ordered, would have to be disposed of within three months.

As per the order, any party or organisation desiring to take out a rally or procession, would have to pay a security desposit with the police. DC (Traffic) M K Singh and Officer in-charge (Traffic Guard-HQ) Saroj Roychowdhury were present in court.

Traffic in the centre of the metropolis gridlocked on September 24 when about 25,000 tribals, under the banner of the Adivasi Socio, Educational and Cultural Organisation, arrived at Sealdah and Howrah railway stations and marched the towards the rally venue.

Police had said the rallyists, demanding inclusion of  Santhali language in the Eighth Schedule and introduction of the Olchiki script, were granted prior permission. Irked by the massive traffic jam which held up several high court judges beside himself, officers of the court, lawyers and litigants, Justice Lala initiated a suo motu contempt against the traffic police. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) and other senior officers and sergeants on duty, particularly an officer who prevented the judge from driving towards the court a few hundred metres away in his car, and the deputy sheriff, were then directed to be present before the court on September 29.

Justice Lala had expressed astonishment how such a large procession at peak office hours was allowed by the police leading to closure of several important thoroughfares, and observed that such a menace, which led to loss of important working hours, should be stopped immediately.