Bandh in Hills illegal, says Calcutta High Court

MP |16 Jun 2017 | Kolkata : Upholding its previous order, the Calcutta high court passed its judgement on Friday stating that the bandh called by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in the Hills is illegal.

The court has also directed the state government to file a report after assessing the damage caused to properties due to the trouble that broke out in the Hills. The state government has been asked to submit the preliminary report within two weeks.

On June 8, the situation in the Hills turned violent when GJM supporters allegedly started pelting stones at the police. They had also set vehicles on fire soon after the Cabinet meeting headed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Darjeeling was over.

Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha had called a bandh in the Hills on June 9. On the same day, advocate Ramaprasad Sarkar had moved to the court and filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in connection with the 12-hour bandh called in the Hills.

Stating the bandh in the Hills illegal, the division Bench of the Acting Chief Justice Nishita Mhatre and Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty on Friday upheld the court's order dated August 7, 2013.

The division Bench of the then Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Jaymalya Bagchi had passed an order stating the bandh to be illegal. It was also ordered that bandhs should not be enforced forcefully.

GJM had earlier moved to the Supreme Court challenging the order of the High Court. The Apex Court had dismissed the plea of the GJM and upheld the judgement of the High Court.

In another case, the High Court had also ordered the administration to take stringent measures to avoid bandh in the Hills on September 12, 2016. Despite the court's order against calling bandhs in the Hills, Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha had called the bandh within a few months of the court's order.

This comes at a time when the state government is taking all necessary steps to reinstate peace in the Hills. According to the sources, the state government would take the necessary steps to calculate the loss caused by the damage during the trouble in the Hills following the court's order.