August 25, 2025 Sl. No.48 Court No.8 s.biswas WPA(P) 330 of 2025 Jiban Das and others vs. The State of West Bengal and others Mr. Dhruba Mukherjee Mr. Asraf Mandal ... for the petitioners Mr. Kishore Datta, AG Mr. Swapan Banerjee Ms. Sumita Shaw Mr. Soumen Chatterjee ... for the State Mr. Amanul Islam Mr. Sourav Mukherjee Mr. Gourav Roy ... for the private respondents 1. Heard the parties represented through their respective learned counsels. 2. The instant writ petition is in the nature of public interest litigation praying inter alia for the following reliefs: a) A writ and/or order or orders and/or direction or directions in the nature of a writ of Mandamus directing the respondent authorities particularly the respondent no.9 herein being the Officer-in-Charge, Murutia Police Station, Nadis to take all legal steps against the private respondents herein who are creating day to day troubles by prohibiting the petitioners along with other co-villagers of Das Community of the said village to perform the pujas and other religious ceremonies in the said two Mandirs situated in the said village forthwith; b) A writ and/or order or orders in the nature of writ of Mandamus directing the respondent authorities to consider and dispose of the representations of the petitioners made before 2 the respondent authorities being Annexures “P- 2” and “P-3” to this application by taking all legal steps against the private respondents herein who are creating day to day troubles and also prohibiting the petitioners and the other co-villagers belonging to Das Community of the said village to perform the pujas and other religious ceremonies in the said two Mandir of the said village forthwith; c) A writ and/or order or orders direction or directions in and/or nature of a writ of Certiorari directing the respondents to produce or cause to be produced the entire records of the case including the representations made by the petitioners being Annexures "P-2" and "P-3" to this application so that conscionable justice may rendered to the petitioners by be perusing considering and the same; d) Rule NISI in terms of the Prayers (a), (b) and (c) above; e) Costs and Incidental of this c) application; f) Pending hearing this application the petitioners pray for an interim order to the affect that directing the respondents not to reject the recommendation as made by the petitioners without taking any steps against the private respondents herein and to direct the respondent no. 9 herein being the Office-in-Charge, Murutia Police Station, Nadia to depute adequate Police Personnel in the said two Mandir of the said village Singadanga, Nadia, so that the petitioners along with other co-villagers of Das Community of the said village can perform the pujas and other religious ceremonies in the said two Mandir without any hinderance in any manner whatsoever till disposal of this application; 3 g) Any other order or orders and/or direction or directions as Your Lordships may deem fit and proper. 3. The petitioners in the instant case belong to a Scheduled Caste community. They are poorer section of the society, residing at village Singadanga within Murutia Gram Panchayat. 4. The main grievance of the petitioners are with regard to unlawfully prohibiting them by one Mahishya Community from performing religious rites at two big pujas (Durga and Kali Puja) in the two Mandirs situated at the plots donated by the community member Sudhir Das. The villagers from Mahishya Community had been obstructing the petitioners to have access to both the Mandirs. 5. Being aggrieved by the action of the private respondents, the petitioners submitted representation along with other co-villagers before the authority concerned for taking appropriate action, but till today the grievance of the petitioners have not been redressed by the authority concerned. 6. The petitioners are directed to submit a fresh comprehensive representation before the respondent no.7 (the Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Tehatta) within a fortnight. After affording opportunity of hearing to all the 4 interested parties, the respondent no.7 shall pass a reasoned order in accordance with law within two weeks thereafter. The order shall be communicated to all the interested parties accordingly. 7. However, it is made clear that the private respondents have expressed in court today that they shall not restrain or obstruct the petitioners from performing their daily pujas at both the Mandirs. 8. The instant writ petition is disposed of without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case. (Sujoy Paul, J.) (Smita Das De, J.)