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The Calcutta High Court on Friday permitted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hold a rally on November 29 near Victoria House at Esplanade.
This is the same place in central Kolkata where the ruling Trinamool Congress holds its annual 'Shaheed Divas (Martyrs' Day)' rally on July 21. A Division Bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya upheld the single bench order and dismissed the petition filed by the West Bengal government against holding the rally. On November 23, the West Bengal government had approached the High Court against the single-judge Bench judgement. The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the High Court had pulled up the Kolkata Police on November 20 for denying permission for the BJP rally in Kolkata twice without any apparent reason and by way of computer-generated responses. However, the High Court, after hearing the plea filed by the West Bengal government observed that the advisory said applications need to be made two to three weeks prior to the programme. Here, the application has been made 23 days prior. Noting that the advisory was not a statute, the Bench said the same cannot be taken as a rigid rule and that there was discretion vested with the authorities. Meanwhile, the state BJP unit has welcomed the verdict and termed it "historical." "This is a historical verdict given by the High Court. I had predicted that the West Bengal government would have to face the consequences as it was illegally trying to stop the BJP program. We thank the judiciary...," West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said. (ANI)
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