Calcutta High Court permits VHP to hold Ram Navami Shobha Yatra in Jadavpur on Sunday

The Calcutta High Court on Friday allowed the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to carry out the Ram Navami Shobha Yatra, (a procession to celebrate Ram Navami) in Jadavpur on Sunday (April 21) [Visha Hindu Parishad vs State of West Bengal]..Justice Jay Sengupta noted that since April 21 is a Sunday, there will be less traffic and that any public examination scheduled on that day, like those for UPSC and NDA, is scheduled to be held only till 5 PM.As such it would be convenient to allow the conduct of the rally on Sunday from 6 PM onwards rather than have it on any other day, the judge observed. The Court, therefore, permitted the VHP to hold its rally on April 21, Sunday from 6 PM to 8 PM, subject to compliance with certain conditions. "Every citizen has a right to express himself or practice his own faith, albeit, subject to the reasonable restrictions and a number of similar rallies have been allowed to be held. Therefore, I do not find any reason not to allow the petitioner to hold the religious rally on April 21, 2024," the Court's April 19 order said..The Court passed the order on a plea filed by the VHP after the local police refused to permit the conduct of the rally on April 21.The VHP told the Court that they had been carrying out such a procession on the first Sunday after the Ram Navami since 2016.The State opposed the VHP's plea and argued that April 21 has no religious significance to hold any rally. There is a dearth of police personnel because of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the State added.On April 21, certain public examinations are also to be held and exam centres are there on the proposed route of the rally, the State argued while opposing the conduct of the rally..After considering the case, however, the Court permitted the conduct of the rally although it imposed certain restrictions to be complied with by the rally participants/ organisers:The total number of participants shall not exceed around 600 persons. The organisers shall nominate 5 persons from amongst themselves who shall be held responsible for conducting the procession. No vehicles shall be permitted in the said procession except for the one that would carry the tableau and the idol of Lord Rama. The participants shall not carry or brandish any arms or weapons. The participants and the organisers shall not use any foul language or incite violence.Since the model code of conduct for the elections is now in operation, the participants shall abide by the same. The participants shall also abide by relevant pollution norms including sound norms. Only a normal sound system should be used. No disc jockey (DJ) shall be allowed in the said procession. The participants in the procession shall not halt or pause at any place and are to continue to gradually proceed towards their final destination. .Police authorities have been ordered to ensure that they deploy an adequate number of armed personnel to ensure peace and to see that no harm ensues either to the participants or to the residents and the passers-by. "If necessary, the State shall make request for Central Para Military Forces with a prior notice of 24 hours to the concerned authority including the Nodal Officer/IG, CAPF," the Court added..Advocates Subir Sanyal, Shankar Dalapati, Falguni Bandopadhyay, Apurbo Ghosh, Anindya Ghosh and Pronojit Roy appeared for the VHP.Advocate General Kishore Dutta along with advocates Amitesh Banerjee, Rudrajit Sarkar and Debangshu Dinda represented the State..[Read Order]