Kolkata, Jan 29 The Calcutta High Court on Thursday again rejected the plea from the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) West Bengal unit to hold protest demonstrations in front of the state Secretariat 'Nabanna' against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's alleged move hindering the Enforcement Directorate (ED)'s raids against the Indian Action Political Action Committee (I-PAC).
A division bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen declined the party's plea challenging the single-judge bench order, which had rejected their demand.
On January 15, a single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh had turned down the party's plea, and the BJP leadership, thereafter, approached the division bench.
Rejecting the plea again, the division bench instead suggested that the state unit of the BJP conduct the protest demonstration at the alternative location of nearby Mandirtala Crossing, which was suggested by Justice Ghosh on January 15.
Justice Ghosh had also fixed the time range for the protest demonstration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. She also barred the use of a microphone at the demonstration.
On January 8, while simultaneous raids and search operations were being conducted at the Indian Political Action Committee's office and the residence of its co-founder Pratik Jain, Chief Minister Banerjee, accompanied by senior officials from the state administration and the state police, stormed the two places one after another and left the premises after reportedly collecting some paper files and electronic documents.
The state BJP unit had decided to conduct a protest demonstration in front of the state Secretariat at Mandirtala in the adjacent Howrah district. However, considering that the Nabanna area is a high-security zone, special permission is required for conducting protest demonstrations in front of it.
The state unit of the BJP had therefore approached the Calcutta High Court for permission for their agitation.
--IANS
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