Calcutta High Court on Wednesday questioned police for not allowing the CPM to set up book stalls during Durga Puja and advised that dissenting voices not be suppressed.
“It is not right to allow one party and deny permission to others. The voice of an Opposition political party should not be suppressed in this manner. They are not setting up a lottery shop; they want to sell books. What is the problem?” Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya observed, questioning the denial of permission to the CPM to set up book stalls despite the party's nearly six-decade-old tradition of doing so during festivals.
The judge was hearing a petition filed by the CPM against the police for denying it permission to set up stalls on Jessore Road while allowing the RSS-affiliated Hindu Jagran Manch to set up stalls.
Justice Bhattacharyya observed that the state should “not stifle the voice of other parties, as that is not the spirit of democracy”.
CPM counsel Samim Ahammed alleged that the CPM Bongaon unit approached the police and other authorities for permission, but members of the Hindu Jagran Manch prevented it from setting up the stall on October 6. He claimed the Manch had been allowed to erect a stall in front of the CPM’s party office, but the CPM was denied space for its stall.
Appearing for the state, advocate general Surjit Nath Mitra and additional advocate general argued that the CPM had applied to the Bongaon subdivisional administration, but did not approach the PWD, which owns the land. They argued the case was not concerned with police inaction or excessive action. They objected to the case being heard by Justice Bhattacharya’s bench, seeking its transfer to an appropriate bench.
Questioning the state’s justification to deny permission to the CPM to set up its traditional book stall on Jessore Road during Durga Puja, the judge asked if everyone setting up stalls there obtained PWD clearance.
Justice Bhattacharyya directed the inspector-in-charge of Bongaon police station to submit a report by Thursday specifying the number of stalls set up or being set up along the Jessore Road stretch and whether they all had PWD clearance.
Justice Bhattacharyya will hear the case on Thursday. The state government has already moved the division bench on Wednesday.