Court No. 19 (265719) 13.02.2026 (AD 5) (S. Banerjee) WPA 3157 of 2026 Joy Maa Om Shyamsundari Dharmakshetra Debuttar Trust & Anr. Vs. State of West Bengal & Ors. Mr. Tarunjyoti Tewari Mr. Bikramjit Dutta Ms. Kausiki Bose …for the petitioners Mr. Vimal Kumar Shahi Ms. Susmita Chatterjee …for the State Learned advocate appearing for the petitioners submits that the petitioner by a letter dated January 31, 2026 sought for time to produce the documents as per the directions contained in the notice under Section 35(3) of the BNSS dated January 23, 2026. Learned advocate appearing for the petitioners submits that the petitioners have now collected all relevant documents and the petitioners can produce the same before the Officer-in-Charge, Amherst Street Police Station by tomorrow (14.02.2026) at or about 12 noon. Learned advocate appearing for the petitioners submits that a Special Puja will be performed at the “Sri Sri Shyam Sundari Mata” temple located at 23/1, Dr. Kartick Bose Street, Kolkata – 700 009 on 2 February 16, 2026. He submits that several devotees are expected to visit the temple to attend the said Special Puja on February 16, 2026 from across the country. Learned advocate appearing for the petitioners submits that the police authorities are restraining the devotees from visiting the temple and they are also restraining the temple authorities from making live telecast of puja by the temple authorities. The report filed by the Additional Officer-in- Charge, Amherst Street dated February 13, 2026 is taken on record. The said report states that upon enquiry it was ascertained that on January 18, 2026 an incident took place at the said temple and a large number of devotees attended as the temple authorities have made widespread circulation of the glory of „Sri Sri Shyam Sundari Mata‟ in electronic means (social media) through hired professionals to attract huge crowd for their personal gain, though no security measure was adopted by them to regulate the huge footfall. The said report further states that neither the police authorities were informed of such huge footfall beforehand, nor the temple authorities have deputed volunteers to control the crowd to guard against any probable danger. 3 Learned advocate appearing for the petitioners disputes the statements made in the said report. He submits that before any puja or special puja, if several thousands of devotees are expected to visit the temple, the temple authorities keep the police authorities informed on regular basis as to the expected footfall on such date. He further submits that the temple authorities also engage security personnel and volunteers in adequate numbers so as to control and manage the crowd so as to ensure that the general public of the locality are not affected by such footfall at the said temple and its surroundings. He further submits that the police authorities should be restrained from creating any disturbance during the Special Puja to be performed at the temple on February 16, 2026. In the light of the submissions made by the learned advocates for the respective parties, the petitioners are directed to submit a comprehensive application before the Officer-in-Charge, Amherst Street Police Station, stating in particular the date(s) and time of the puja or Special Puja to be performed at the temple. 4 The said application should also state the expected number of devotees who shall attend the temple on that date and time. The steps taken by the temple authorities regarding deputing professional private security personnel and volunteers and the number of such security personnel and volunteers who shall be deputed, shall also be stated specifically in the said application. The application should also specifically state whether the temple authorities have taken any step to make widespread circulation through social media so as to attract devotees over and above the normal number of devotees who attend the temple frequently. The said application shall also state the arrangements that will be made by the temple authorities to control the number of devotees who are expected to visit the temple during the time of the Special Puja to be performed on February 16, 2026. The learned advocate appearing for the petitioners assures this Court that the representative of the temple authorities shall meet the Officer-in- Charge of Amherst Street Police Station tomorrow (14.02.2026) at about 12 noon along with all relevant documents and the application as directed by this 5 Court shall be submitted by the temple authorities before the Officer-in-Charge of Amherst Street Police Station at that time. Police authorities are directed to consider the application and shall take necessary steps pursuant to the said application and ensure that the general public of the locality as well as the devotees who shall visit the temple on the occasion of the Special Puja, do not suffer any inconvenience in any manner during the said Special Puja on February 16, 2026. With the above observations and directions, this writ petition stands disposed of. (Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, J.)