Bengal BJP rallies against 'worsening law and order'

The West Bengal BJP, having received a green signal from the Calcutta High Court, took out a rally in the city on Friday against the "worsening law-and-order situation" and "rise in rape cases" in the state.

The high court, however, asked the party to take a different route from what it had sought.

The order, passed after 2 pm, allowed the BJP to hold the protest march between 3 pm and 4.30 pm.

The rally, which commenced from Nandan area - the city's cultural hub - was led by West Bengal BJP Mahila Morcha president and MP Locket Chatterjee and the party's general secretary Raju Banerjee.

With posters and placards in hand, the activists shouted slogans against the state government. They took a round of the Birla Planetarium, before returning to Nandan, traversing a kilometre.

"A 17-year old girl was raped, brutally murdered and her body set on fire in South Dinajpur. We wanted to hold a rally to protest the gruesome incident and the worsening law and order situation in the state, but the police initially refused permission," Chatterjee said.

The actor-turned-MP questioned the "silence of city's eminent personalities" over the incident.

Referring to a similar incident in Hyderabad, which had sparked outrage across the country, she said, "The chief minister (Mamata Banerjee) sends her party representatives when such cases are reported in other states. Why is she silent now, this time it is her own state..." the MP said.

The saffron party had moved the high court, claiming that the police denied it permission to organise a rally from Nandan cultural complex to Hazra crossing in south Kolkata, near Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's residence, in protest against the "deteriorating law and order situation" and rape-murder in South Dinajpur district.

Claiming that the party was not given any reason for permission denial, the BJP's lawyer prayed that direction be given to police for allowing the protest march.

Appearing for the state, Advocate General Kishore Datta told the court that BJP's rally on its suggested route would have clashed with programmes organised by other parties.

Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, after hearing the two sides, asked the saffron party to take the route suggested by the advocate general.