Calcutta High Court Dismisses Plea Against BJP's ‘Bangla Bandh'

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court dismissed a plea challenging the legality of the 12-hour ‘Bangla Bandh’ called by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The decision was made on Wednesday by a division bench led by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam, with Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya.

The plea was filed by Sanjoy Das, who claimed to be a practicing lawyer at the high court. Das sought to have the bandh declared illegal. However, the court noted that Das had been perpetually debarred from filing public interest litigations (PILs) in a previous ruling due to misconduct.

In that earlier order, the court had found Das guilty of making false statements and attempting to manipulate judicial proceedings. The bench had also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him for abusing the court’s process and for attempting to intimidate the office of the chief justice.

The current bench upheld this debarment and dismissed Das’s recent petition. The court criticized Das for his continued attempts to misuse the judicial system, leading to the rejection of his latest plea with an exemplary cost.

The bandh, which began at 6 am, was organized by the BJP in response to police actions against participants of the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’—a march to the secretariat by the newly formed student group Chatra Samaj. The protest was against the handling of a recent case involving the rape and murder of a doctor at R G Kar hospital.