The Bharatiya Janata Party has called for a 12-hour strike on Wednesday in protest of the treatment meted out to protesters, who were marching towards the Nabanna, State Secretariat building to seek justice for the brutal rape and murder of a resident doctor at RG Kar hospital.
A public interest litigation (PIL) has been moved before the Calcutta High Court challenging the strike.
In calling for the court to restrain the BJP from calling such a bandh, the plea relies on a Bombay High Court order which prohibited the MVA from calling a “Maharashtra Bandh” over the Badlapur school sexual assault.
Various student bodies had called for a march to Nabanna to protest against the alleged mishandling of the probe into the doctor’s death by the State administration before the case was handed over to the CBI.
However, owing to increasing disturbance at what was slated to be a “peaceful march”, the police employed used water cannons, ‘lathi-charge’ and tear gas canisters to disperse the crowds.
This was disproved by the BJP functionaries of West Bengal, with leader Sukanta Majumder calling for a 12-hour bandh to protest against the police’s actions against those who were marching to the State secretariat.
In challenging the call for a strike by the higher echelons of the BJP, the plea states that such an “illegal act” would bring public life to a standstill.
"Due to such an illegal and uncalled Bandh, the normal public life is bound to come to a standstill as citizens will not be able to avail transport facilities for the purpose of their movement and there is a likelihood of destruction and damage of public property for which the general public may suffer injuries. Admittedly, it is the duty of the State to ensure that normal public life does not come to a standstill and/or is affected because of a bandh called by a political party. The petitioner is thus aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the bandh called for by the Bharatiya Janata Party,” the plea states.
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