Kolkata Rape-Murder: 6,000 Cops, Water Cannons Deployed Amid Tensions Over ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ Today

Security has been beefed up in Kolkata over claims of possible disruptions during the students’ ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ rally or march to Nabanna’ (state secretariat) in Kolkata on Tuesday seeking the resignation of chief minister Mamata Banerjee over the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital earlier this month.

Kolkata Police has deployed over 6,000 personnel on the city streets from 8 am, kept water cannons ready, and set up at least 19 barricade points. The state has put 26 district collectors in charge to monitor the situation.

Police will also use drones to keep an eye on the rally. However, police have said no permission was sought to conduct the rally.

The call for March to Nabanna, the Bengal state secretariat, was separately given by an unregistered students’ body Paschim 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.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that four student activists, who were distributing food among volunteers at the Howrah station had gone missing after midnight. The saffron party said if anything happened to the students CM Mamata Banerjee would be held responsible.

Here are the top developments related to the march.

• 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.
• The state police have called the scheduled rallies, support for which has been mainly garnered over social media platforms, as “illegal” and “unauthorised”.
• Police said they have taken necessary precautions to allay apprehensions about potential law and order situations during the march.
• According to Kolkata Police, no permission has been sought to conduct the rally yet.
• 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.
• Meanwhile, in a video message released by the Raj Bhavan late Monday evening, Governor CV Ananda Bose urged the state government not to use power to stop the students from organising the rally.
• The apex court on August 22 said peaceful protests over the incident shall not be disturbed or disrupted by the West Bengal government. The court, however, clarified that it has not injuncted the state government from exercising lawful powers.
• However, student bodies refuted claims of disruptions. Chhatra Samaj spokesperson Sayan Lahiri said, “The claims made by the TMC and police are baseless. We aim to raise our demands peacefully. Lahiri claimed that the rallies, which will start from several places and move towards Nabanna, are organised by an apolitical platform with no affiliations to the BJP, RSS, or ABVP.
•  Lahiri 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.
• 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.
• Lahiri said, “Since the movement was organised through a social media campaign, we cannot provide an exact estimate.” In a late evening development, the police shifted a group of people who gathered near Nabanna which is located in Howrah.

(With inputs from Kamalika Sengupta in Kolkata and agencies)