Rath Yatra row: Calcutta HC directs BJP delegation to meet WB top authorities

A division bench of Calcutta High Court on Friday modified and disposed a single bench judgement passed by the court yesterday and directed three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) representatives to meet West Bengal Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) by December 12 in connection with the BJP's Rath Yatra.

The decision regarding the matter will be taken by the state government and relayed to the BJP by December 14.

Earlier in the day, the court accepted the BJP's plea for organising Rath Yatras in Cooch Behar and other regions of West Bengal.

The court on Thursday refused to give permission to the BJP to hold the Yatra. The judicature had upheld the concerns cited by the West Bengal government that the programme may stoke communal tensions and cause violence in the region. The Advocate General of State had submitted a confidential intelligence report in a sealed envelope to the single judge bench.

The BJP had planned to hold three Rath Yatras beginning with Cooch Behar district today, Kakdwip in the South 24 Parganas district on December 9 and Tarapith in Birbhum district on December 14. The Yatra was to be flagged off by party president Amit Shah from Cooch Behar.