Calcutta High Court allows Anjani Putra Sena’s Ram Navami rally in Howrah

The Hindu group Anjani Putra Sena was given permission by the Calcutta High Court on Friday to stage a Ram Navami demonstration in Howrah along its suggested path.
On April 6, the Anjani Putra Sena planned to stage a “Shri Rama Navami Shobha Yatra Utsav” rally that would begin at Lord Narasimha Temple on GT Road and end at Howrah Maidan.
Citing past court order violations and security concerns, the police refused to permit the rally’s conduct along this route.
Rather, the police authorized the march to go along two different routes. As a result, the organization filed a remedy petition with the High Court.
On Friday, Justice Tirthankar Ghosh gave the organization permission to hold the rally along the originally intended path, subject to a number of requirements, such as informing the police in advance of the identities of the 500 potential participants.
“The name of 500 participants with their identity card either in the form of EPIC Card / Aadhaar Card or PAN Card or any other identity card would be submitted to the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Division, Howrah,” the order said.
In order to determine if this directive is being followed, the Court posted the matter on April 9.
The group had promised the court during the hearing that there would only be 500 people at the event, all of whom would be wearing badges.
Citing previous rowdy situations during comparable processions in 2022 and 2023, the State resisted the plea.
Notwithstanding these reservations, the Court allowed the request after considering the petitioner’s promises and the fact that similar protests had previously taken place on the same path.
It is not disputed that the police is not empowered to propose an alternative route. However, the existence of the powers vested in an authority and exercising such powers are two different aspects. There were earlier orders passed by this Hon’ble Court as also it is reflected that the same route is being followed by the organization for a considerable period of time,” the Court noted.
In order to guarantee the peaceful conduct of the Ram Navami rally, the High Court additionally established a number of requirements. Among these was a directive for the organizers to designate ten individuals from among themselves to be in charge of ensuring the parade was conducted in a peaceful manner.
No cars other than the one transporting the tableau and the idol of Lord Rama will be allowed to participate in the procession, the Court continued.
Additionally, it stipulated that while flags and plastic (PVC) maces would be allowed, no participant should be allowed to carry any kind of weaponry, including sticks.
The police were also directed to station surveillance cars at the rally’s front and back ends in order to ensure security. The Court further stated that the procession must strictly occur between 8:30 AM and 12:00 PM.
The petitioner organization was represented by Senior Advocate Subir Sanyal, as well as Advocates Anup Dasgupta, Anindya Sundar Das, Lokenath Chatterjee, Sukanta Ghosh, Sagnik Roy Chowdhury, Arghya Chatterjee, Saurajit Mukherjee, and Trijit Mitra.
The respondent authorities were represented by Advocate General Kishore Datta, AGP Swapan Banerjee, and Advocates Santanu Mitra, Sumita Shaw, Amratya Pal, Suman Chattopadhyay, Tapasi Sinha Palit, and Sabyasachi Chatterjee.