While observing that “right to protest is a fundamental right”, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against a proposed protest rally, by the parents of the RG Kar rape and murder victim, near the state secretariat ‘Nabanna’ on August 9, said that the “Nabanna Abhijan” protest rally must comply with police prohibitory orders.

A division bench presided by Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Smita Das De observed, “This Court declined to pass any prohibitory order as sought for by the petitioner therein. This Court poignantly held that the right to protest is a fundamental right.”

A PIL was filed in the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday, seeking to stop the “Nabanna Abhijan” planned by the parents of the  postgraduate trainee doctor who was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, in Kolkata, last year. The march is scheduled for August 9, marking the first death anniversary of the doctor.

A resident of the Howrah district had filed the petition, citing disruptions caused by protest rallies near the state secretariat, affecting daily life, movement, and business activities in the Mandirtala area.

The court, on Thursday, said it will be open for the West Bengal government to implement a prohibitory order imposed in the area near Nabanna and inform the organisers about adequate alternative places for protest.

“As noted above, the police has already issued the prohibitory order and it will be open for the Government to implement the said prohibitory order in accordance with law and inform the organizers about adequate alternative places for protest,” it said.

The court observed that the persons participating in the rally should protest peacefully as law-abiding citizens and not cause any harm to the police or government authorities, buildings and public properties.