Durand Cup match: HC scotches police’s ‘Tifo’ ban at Salt Lake Stadium
Kolkata: In its judgement, the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday scotched the banning of ‘Tifo’ by the Bidhannagar Police during the Durand Cup semi-final match between Mohun Bagan Super Giant and Bengaluru FC at the Salt Lake Stadium on August 27.
The Bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya was hearing a PIL challenging a Bidhannagar Police memo which apart from banning drums, smoke candles or other inflammable materials, also banned Tifos inside the stadium during the match.
Tifo means a flag or picture held up by the supporters of a team in a football match and, therefore, those displays are made for a short period of time or at intervals.
The counsel representing the state submitted that it was banned because it can obstruct the views of spectators seated at the lower tiers inside the stadium.
The petitioner’s counsel submits that the drums or beating of the drums may at times cause noise pollution and, therefore, should not be carried inside the stadium but the Tifo, which is a seminal part of the cheering activities and for boosting the morale of the team and its players, cannot be restricted as a prohibitory item.
The court observed: “…We cannot overlook the fact that the ‘TIFO’ is an integral part of the sport activities where the morale of a team or its supporters are at times, receive boost from the supporters and at times to celebrate a particular moment during the match. We thus do not find any justification in the absolute prohibition for ‘TIFO’ imposed by the Joint Commissioner of Police (Headquarter), Bidhannagar.”
However, the court added a caveat that the ‘Tifo’ which are usually displayed during matches in printed and/or written shall be of soft materials and, therefore, there cannot be any absolute prohibition in this regard. “We hasten to add that such ‘TIFO’ shall not contain any hard material for which reasonable restrictions can be imposed,” the court directed.
Recently, after a match at Salt Lake Stadium between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal was cancelled, the police had cracked down on protestors who were staging demonstration demanding justice in the alleged rape and murder of the junior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College & Hospital.
