The Calcutta High Court Tuesday said ministers and politicians organising Durga Puja by blocking roads were behaving like goons and directed the city police to give a report on why a sex workers' organisation was denied permission to hold a community Puja.
Hearing a petition by the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), which claims to be an organisation representing 65,000 sex workers, Justice Sanjib Banerjee gave police seven days to submit the report.
The DMSC moved the court after a local police station refused to give it the go-ahead to organise a community Durga Puja in north Kolkata, arguing it would trigger traffic chaos.
Justice Banerjee asked police how green signal was given to state ministers in south Kolkata to organise the pujas which encroached on street space. He said driving through the city streets during the puja has become extremely difficult.
The court asked police that the report should include the guidelines for organising Durga Puja this year, the timeframe for setting up and dismantling canopies and whether there was any provision for relaxation of rules.