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Cops attacked, public property damaged in BJP rally: West Bengal government to high court
The BJP took out a march to Nabanna, the state secretariat, to protest against alleged corruption under the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led West Bengal government. The report, prepared by home secretary BP Gopalika, was submitted before a division bench of chief justice Prakash Shrivastava and justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj.
Police personnel were attacked and public properties damaged in arson during the Bharatiya Janata Party’s march to state secretariat in Howrah district on September 13, the West Bengal government said on Monday in a report submitted before the Calcutta high court.
The BJP took out a march to Nabanna, the state secretariat, to protest against alleged corruption under the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led West Bengal government.
The report, prepared by home secretary BP Gopalika, was submitted before a division bench of chief justice Prakash Shrivastava and justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj.
The report said no permission was given to any party to gather its workers at Santragachi bus stand and Howrah Maidan (both in Howrah district) in view of security and heavy traffic congestion, said lawyers present during the hearing.
Preventive order under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was in force in these areas, the report said, adding that three processions were taken out violating it.
Without naming any political party, the report said people who took part in the march “acted in a violent manner”.
After hearing a petition filed by a BJP worker, the division bench on September 13 ordered that the state government has to ensure that “no unnecessary arrest is made and no person is unnecessarily detained”.
“The state authorities will ensure protection of party office of the political party which had organised the rally,” said the order seen by HT, and also asked the home secretary to file a report by September 19.
Lawyer Loknath Chatterjee, who represented the petitioner, told the court that BJP workers were stopped by the police from boarding buses and trains heading for Kolkata before the rally and forcibly prevented from participating in the march.
“The state government’s report skirted important issues, such as charges of police atrocity that left many people injured,” Chatterjee said on Monday.
The petition will be heard again on September 27.
HT earlier reported that in the pitched battles fought on the streets of Howrah district and Kolkata, 27 police personnel, including three senior officers, and around 35 BJP workers sustained injuries and required hospitalisation. The BJP, however, alleged that around 250 more workers were injured, while rejecting charges of stone pelting at the police.
BJP state and central leaders have accused the TMC government of crushing democratic rights of common people while chief minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that the saffron camp brought in armed men to create disturbance on that day.
Around 25 BJP workers have been arrested so far for the assault on policemen and setting a police vehicle on fire. Those accused of assaulting an assistant police commissioner and an additional officer-in-charge of the Kolkata Police and an inspector-in-charge of the Howrah district police have been charged with attempt to murder and other non-bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code.
