Calcutta HC denies permission to BJP for Rath Yatra

A single bench of Calcutta High Court on Thursday denied permission to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for holding a Rath Yatra in West Bengal's Coochbehar on Friday.

The next hearing in the matter will take place on January 9.

The BJP has now planned to move the division bench of Calcutta High Court to challenge the single bench order denying permission to hold the yatra.

Responding to this, West Bengal BJP vice president Jay Prakash Majumdar told media, "We will be going to division bench tomorrow morning to seek justice. Any peaceful democratic movement is permissible under the Indian Constitution. We believe in Sanvidhaan (Constitution) but this state is going on Mamatavidhaan."

Majumdar further said, "We have informed the state administration on October 29 about our political rally. We wrote them to sit with us and discuss, and informed them about the total paradigm of the whole event and we have requested them to discuss the modality and cooperation for conducting the rally peacefully from our part. At least 15 letters were sent to Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, and other police officials. Till today there was no response from West Bengal state administration which is running under the direction and directives of Mamata Bandopadhyaya."

BJP chief Amit Shah was to flag off the mega rally that was supposed to cover a number of districts across the state.