Calcutta High Court pulls up Kolkata Police for computer-generated rejection of BJP request to hold rally

The Calcutta High Court on Monday pulled up the Kolkata Police for denying permission for a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally at Kolkata twice without any apparent reason and by way of computer-generated responses [Jagannath Chattopadhyay vs State of West Bengal]. .Justice Rajasekhar Mantha took critical note that auto-generated emails that were sent to the BJP General Secretary, Jagannath Chattopadhyay (petitioner), to deny permission for the rally's conduct had stated that he did not apply for permission within time. However, the Court found that the applications were made well within the two-week time frame fixed for the grant of such permissions. "There is clear non-application of mind on the part of the authorities. It also appears that the authorities have a pre-decided computer fed negation to any request from the petitioners. This cannot be accepted in law," the judge said..The Court was told that Chattopadhyay had initially applied for permission on October 18, while proposing to carry out a rally on November 28. However, he received an auto-generated email on the next day, rejecting the request. Thereafter, he once again applied before the Joint Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) to conduct a rally event on November 29. Again, a similar email was sent denying the permission. After hearing rival submissions, the Court allowed Chattopadhyay's plea to hold the rally, which is now slated to take place on November 29 at a site where the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) usually holds its annual July 21 rally. "This Court is unable to appreciate as to why a mechanical computer generated reply in this form is given by the authorities despite the applications having been made within two weeks before the proposed date of the rally. Such two weeks’ notice as a requirement has been confirmed by the official of the State present in Court," the Court observed. .The Court also ordered the State authorities to clarify by November 22 as to whether it wanted to impose any reasonable restrictions on the event..Advocates Soumya Majumder, Billwadal Bhattacharyya, M Rajdeep Majumder, Srijib Chakraborty, Loknath Chatterjee, Tarunjyoti Tewari, Moyukh Mukherjee, Anish Kumar Mukherjee, Suryaneel Das, Subhajit Dhibar and Chiranjit Pal appeared for the Chattopadhyay. Additional Government Pleader Amal Kumar Sen along with Advocate Lal Mohan Basu represented the State government..[Read Order]