Kolkata, July 15 (IANS) A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal government to clarify its stand on the venue for the Martyrs’ Day rally to be organised by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of Trinamool Congress on July 21.

After the Kolkata Police denied permission to the Mamata Banerjee-led faction to hold the rally at the traditional venue in front of the CESC House near Esplanade Crossing in Central Kolkata, the faction approached the Calcutta High Court with a plea seeking permission to hold the rally at the traditional venue.

The matter came up for hearing in the morning, and at the end of the first round of hearing, the single-judge bench of Justice Sougata Bhattacharya asked the state government to clarify its stand before the bench in the second half, when the matter will be heard again.

Kolkata Police, while denying permission to the Mamata Banerjee-led faction to hold the rally at the traditional venue this year, suggested Brigade Parade Ground, also in central Kolkata, as the alternative venue.

However, the faction refused to accept that alternative suggestion and insisted on organising the Martyrs’ Day Rally on July 21 in front of CESC House this year as well.

Thereafter, Kolkata Police issued an advisory imposing Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 (previously Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973) prohibiting assembly of four or more people in the area in front of the CESC House near the busy Esplanade Crossing.

The Mamata Banerjee-led faction challenged that advisory before Justice Bhattacharya’s bench.

Meanwhile, the rebel-majority faction in Trinamool Congress, led by expelled party legislator Ritabrata Banerjee, has also sought permission from Kolkata Police to hold a separate rally on the same occasion on July 21 on Jawaharlal Nehru Road in central Kolkata. The city police have given them permission.

–IANS

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