Sarjina Bibi And ORS. v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.

Court No. 14 WPA 22259 of 2023 14.09.2023 Sarjina Bibi & Ors.

Vs.

The State of West Bengal & Ors.

(AD 7) (S. Banerjee) Mr. Pratip Chattopadhyay Mr. Mrityunjoy Chatterjee Mr. Debopriya majumder ... for the petitioners Sk. Md. Galib Ms. Tanwishree Mukherjee ... for the State Affidavit of service filed on behalf of the petitioners is taken on record.

Report filed on behalf of the State is also taken on record.

Learned counsel representing the petitioners submits as follows. The petitioners are the winning candidates in the Gram Panchayat Elections 2023 for the seats in Burwan Panchayat Samity in the district of Murshidabad and four of the petitioners are Pradhans of respective Gram Panchayats under the said block. They belong to an opposition political party. The miscreants belonging to the ruling political dispensation were trying their best so that the petitioners were unable to attend the Sthayee Samity meeting that was to be held on 07.09.2023 at 12 noon. Accordingly, some of the petitioners had approached this court for

adequate protection. By an order dated 05.09.2023, passed in WPA 21613 of 2023, this Court granted certain protections to the said petitioners so that they could attend the meeting. However, for some reason the meeting could not be held on that date. It has been deferred to 18.09.2023 at 12 noon at the Burwan Panchayat Samity meeting hall. The miscreants would again try to prevent the petitioners from attending such meeting.

Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the State submits as follows: The allegations made in the writ petition are denied. However, if the petitioners fear that there would be some difficulty in attending the meeting, they could be granted police escort to attend the meeting.

It appears that the petitioners as the winning candidates and Panchayat Pradhans who are scheduled to attend a meeting at Burwan Panchayat Samity. They apprehend that the local miscreants might try to prevent them from attending the meeting of the Panchayat Samity to be held on 18.09.2023 at 12 noon. In view of the above, let the petitioners report to the Officer in Charge of Burwan Police Station on 18.09.2023 at 10 a.m. so that the Officer can arrange

for necessary police protection to escort them to the meeting venue.

Even otherwise, the respondent police authorities shall keep a sharp vigil at the locale and ensure that no breach of peace takes place.

With these observations, the writ petition is disposed of.

Parties shall act on the basis of the server copy of this order.

(Jay Sengupta, J.)