SC refuses urgent hearing on BJP's Save Democracy Yatra plea

The registrar of the Supreme Court on Monday declined to give an urgent hearing before the vacation bench on an appeal of Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) West Bengal unit against the Calcutta High Court's division bench order on the 'Save Democracy Yatra'.

This came hours after the BJP approached the vacation bench of the Supreme Court against the order of the Calcutta High Court's division bench barring the party to hold the massive campaign rally in West Bengal.

On December 21, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court quashed the order of a single bench allowing the BJP to hold its Yatra. The bench, headed by Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Debasish Kar Gupta, was hearing a plea filed by the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government.

Earlier, the single bench of the High Court had allowed the BJP to proceed with its yatra in the state and directed that the administration to ensure that there was no breach of law and order.

The West Bengal government had refused permission for the proposed yatra citing intelligence reports of possible communal violence in areas where the BJP planned to hold rallies.

The party had planned to hold the massive rallies, beginning from Cooch Behar district on December 6 and moving further to Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas district on December 9 and Tarapith in Birbhum district on December 14.