Amid claims by the Trinamool Congress and the West Bengal police of potential disruptions, student organisation Chhatra Samaj insisted that its Tuesday's 'Nabanna Abhijan' rally will be peaceful and focused on demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the arrest of those responsible for the alleged rape-murder of a doctor in RG Kar hospital.
The call for March to Nabanna, the Bengal state secretariat, was separately given by an unregistered students' body Pashchim Banga Chhatra Samaj (West Bengal Students Community) and the Sangrami Joutha Mancha (Joint Platform of Struggle), an organisation of state government employees who have been agitating since long demanding their DA to be made at par with their Central government counterparts.
The state police have called the scheduled rallies, support for which has been mainly garnered over social media platforms, as "illegal" and “unauthorised”, and said they have taken necessary precautions to allay apprehensions about potential law and order situations during the march.
Addressing reporters at Nabanna, ADG (law and order) Manoj Verma said that police have received credible intelligence suggesting attempts would be made by miscreants to mix among protestors and incite large-scale violence and chaos during the rally.
The government has already imposed prohibitory orders near Nabanna under Section 163 of BNSS preventing the assembly of five or more persons.
Calling the rally a “conspiracy” to cause chaos on the streets, the Trinamool Congress released a couple of purported videos of BJP leaders from Ghatal in Paschim Medinipur district planning to incite violence at the rally.
Both leaders were detained for questioning by the police.
Countering those claims, Chhatra Samaj spokesperson Sayan Lahiri said, "The claims made by the TMC and police are baseless. We aim to raise our demands peacefully. If we are stopped, we will attempt to proceed to the secretariat gate in a non-violent manner to demand the CM's resignation due to her failure to prevent incidents like the RG Kar case which has shocked the nation."
Lahiri claimed that the rallies, which will start from College Square, Fort William, and Santragachhi at noon and move towards Nabanna, are organised by an apolitical platform with no affiliations to the BJP, RSS, or ABVP.
He noted, "We have informed the police about the rally via email and discussed it with senior officers multiple times. The allegations that our rally is illegal are untrue."
Later in the evening, ADG, South Bengal Supratim Sarkar told reporters that the police rejected applications of both organisations which were sent to the police at the eleventh hour.
"We have received separate mails from the two organisations only after we held a press conference earlier in the day. The one from ‘Chhatra Samaj' was only an intimation about the programme having no details on the rally and did not seek any permission. Hence it was rejected," Sarkar said.
“The second application had details of their expected turnout and other relevant information but was also rejected because of two reasons. First, a significant number of students would appear for their scheduled UGC-NET examinations on Tuesday, and second, permission is not granted to anyone to hold any gathering around the Nabanna due to the existing prohibitory orders in that area,” he added.
Sarkar appealed to people to maintain normal life and not get swayed by provocations or walk into any kind of trap.
The secretariat will function like any other normal day and all the arrangements have been ready for that, he said.
The Howrah police commissionerate issued an order imposing traffic restrictions in connection with the protest march to the state headquarters which is located in Howrah.
Regarding the expected turnout, Lahiri admitted, "Since the movement was organised through a social media campaign, we cannot provide an exact estimate. However, we have urged everyone to maintain peace."
In the wake of possible disruption of normal life because of the protest march, several educational institutions will either hold online classes on Tuesday or have declared a holiday.
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday held a second round of polygraph tests on former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh and five others as part of their investigation into the rape-murder of a woman doctor at the institution.
According to an officer, over the last 10 days, Ghosh provided inconsistent answers during questioning, prompting officers to conduct another round of polygraph tests.
The CBI initially conducted the lie-detection tests on Ghosh and others on Saturday, followed by a test on the arrested accused Sanjay Roy at the Presidency Correctional Home on Sunday.
Ghosh and former hospital official Sanjay Vashisth are also being investigated for alleged financial irregularities at the institution.
Both Vashisth and the hospital's forensic demonstrator Debasish Som were summoned by the agency at Nizam Palace office for questioning in connection with the corruption allegations.
The case centres on the rape-murder of a postgraduate trainee woman doctor in the seminar hall of the hospital on August 9. A civic volunteer was arrested in connection with the crime the next day. The gruesome crime resulted in nationwide protests by doctors and citizens.
