Cal HC allows PIL for curbs on gathering of people during coming festivals

The Calcutta High Court allowed filing of a PIL seeking restrictions on gathering of people during the upcoming festivals including Kali puja, Chhat puja, Jagadhatri puja and Christmas in West Bengal.

Expressing dismay at the crowding outside marquees during the Durga Puja celebrations in the city, the Calcutta High Court on Monday allowed filing of a PIL seeking restrictions on gathering of people during the upcoming festivals including Kali puja, Chhat puja, Jagadhatri puja and Christmas in West Bengal.

Ajay Kumar Dey, on whose PIL the high court had earlier passed orders restricting entry in Durga Puja marquees to curb the spread of coronavirus, prayed before a division bench comprising justices Shivakant Prasad and Ananda Kumar Mukherjee for permission to file the petition seeking similar restrictions for crowd management during the coming festivals.

Allowing him to file the petition, the bench expressed its dismay at the huge crowd seen outside pandals during the Durga Puja celebrations last month.

Dey's lawyer Sabyasachi Chatterjee later said the PIL has been filed and it is likely to be taken up by a vacation bench of the court on Wednesday.

The high court had ordered that all Durga Puja pandals in West Bengal be made no-entry zones for members of the public, as was directed last year, to curb the spread of Covid-19 infection due to crowding.

It had further directed that for small pandals, a five-metre zone beyond the extremities of the pandals on all sides and, for large pandals, a 10-metre area around them will be part of the no-entry zone.

The high court ordered that the only exception would be for the named persons, including the priest, who were to be identified by the puja organisers in advance.

In a later order, the high court had partially modified the directions allowing 'Anjali' (floral libations) and 'sindoor khela' (a ritual in which women smear each other with sindoor on the last day of the puja) with restrictions on the maximum number of people gathering at a time.

All these people must wear masks and be vaccinated with two doses, the court had ordered.