Calcutta High Court: A Division bench comprising of T. S. Sivagnanam, CJ., and Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, J., issued injunction against the private respondents and all concerned parties from holding the proposed political protest or causing inconvenience to the general public on 05-08-2023.
Brief Facts
In the instant matter, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is preferred by the petitioners seeking to prevent the respondent 8 from conducting a rally/protest on 05-08-2023 as affirmed by the respondent 9.
Contentions
The petitioners contended that the proposed protest will be against public interest and cause inconvenience to the general public. On the other hand, respondents 7, 8 and 9 contended that the protest will be executed block-wise instead of booth-wise and the mass gathering, gheraoing and surrounding the houses of the leaders of a particular political party will be peaceful, maintaining a safe distance of 100 meters from houses from 10 AM to 6 PM.
Moot Point
Whether the proposed political protest is against public interest and warrants an injunction to prevent its execution?
Court’s Observation
The Court observed that the gherao the houses of political party leaders, creating a mass gathering and surrounding their residences may cause immense hardship to the general public and could potentially lead to public safety issues and remains unconvinced that the same will not cause hindrance to the public based on a previous similar event that brought the state to a standstill including the working of the Courts.
The observed that though the speech calls for maintaining peace but raises concerns that people may not adhere to this call, leading to potential violence during the protest.
The Court held that considering the potential inconvenience, public safety concerns, and apprehensions regarding the maintenance of peace during the proposed protest, it necessary to grant the injunction.
Court’s Verdict
The Court grants an order of injunction, restraining the respondent 8 and anyone under their command from conducting the proposed protest on 05-08-2023.
The Court directed the respondents to file their affidavits within ten days, and any replies within three days thereafter and listed the next date of hearing on 21-08-2023.
[Suvendu Adhikari v. State of W.B., 2023 SCC OnLine Cal 2251, order dated 31-07-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
Mr. P.S. Patwalia, Senior Advocate, Mr. Rajdeep Majumder, Mr. Sourav Chatterjee, Ms. Bansuri Swaraj, Mr. Siddesh Kotwal, Mr. Moyukh Mukherjee, Mr. Anish Kr. Mukherjee, Ms. Manya Hasija, Mr. Suryaneel Das, Mr. Chiranjit Pal, Counsel for the Petitioners;
Mr. S.N. Mookherjee, learned AG, Mr. Samrat Sen, learned AAAG, Mr. A. Ray, Md. T.M. Siddiqui, Ms. A. Panja Mallick, Counsel for the State;
Mr. Asok Kumar Chakraborti, ld. ASG, Mr. Arijit Majumdar, Counsel for the Union of India;
Mr. Anuran Samanta, Counsel for ECI;
Mr. Billwadal Bhattacharyya, ld. DSGI, Mr. Bhaskar Prasad Banerjee, Mr. Debasish Tandon, Counsel for NIA;
Mr. Saptanshu Basu, Senior Advocate, Mr. Soumen Mohanty, Mr. Piyush Kr. Ray, Mr. Agnish Basu, Ms. Riddhi Jain, Counsel for the Respondent Nos. 7 to 9.
