High Court div bench allows doc protest to continue at Esplanade

Kolkata: A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday upheld a single bench order that had allowed an organisation of doctors to hold a sit-in demonstration 50 feet away from Dorina Crossing at Esplanade from December 20-26 in demand of speedy justice in the RG Kar rape and murder case.

The state had moved the division bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, challenging the single bench order. The state’s contention was that such demonstrations on Christmas days would cause traffic snarls in the busy area and inconvenience revellers in the festive season.

State’s counsel Kalyan Banerjee found little merit in holding the sit-in at Dorina Crossing against the alleged delay in the CBI probe during Christmas. Doctors’ counsel Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya countered his assertion, stating that the protests at Dorina Crossing for the past three days did not cause any traffic bottleneck or inconvenience the public.

He also submitted a video clip of the ongoing demonstration to buttress his claims and contended that people go to Park Street to celebrate Christmas, not Esplanade.

The court allowed the forum to continue its agitation at the same spot after the defence counsel assured that the number of protesters would be within the specified limit of 100.

The court also asked the agitating doctors to respond to the state’s proposal of suspending the sit-in for a day on December 25 and instead defer it to December 27.