The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday granted the West Bengal BJP unit permission to hold a protest near the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital, in response to the rape and murder of a female doctor at the facility.
The BJP moved the Calcutta High Court for relief after the police denied permission to agitate at the Shyambazar five-point crossing, close to the hospital.
A single-judge bench headed by Justice Rajarshi Bhardwaj has permitted the BJP to hold the protest for five days from Wednesday with demonstrations allowed from 12 noon to 9 pm every day.
The BJP had announced a protest at the Shyambazar five-point crossing on August 16 and had put up a temporary platform. But early on Tuesday, Kolkata Police dismantled the platform. When BJP workers tried to rebuild it this morning, a scuffle broke out with the police.
On its part, Kolkata Police clamped Section 163 of BNSS 2023 around R.G. Kar Hospital, banning any kind of meeting, protest or rally within the radius for seven days from August 18.
Undeterred, BJP moved the court, following which Justice Bhardwaj gave the requisite permission.
The state BJP leaders welcomed the court's decision and said that quite often, the West Bengal government was forcing opposition parties to seek judicial approval for peaceful political activities.
The autopsy report of the victim, who was raped and murdered on August 9, showed she had 14 injury marks on her body. Her body was found under suspicious circumstances in the seminar hall of the R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital. So far, there has been only one arrest in the case.
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