The court emphasized the need to maintain law and order and highlighted the seriousness of the situation, including reports of sexual assault and land grabbing.

JUDGMENT :

1. Leave granted to file appeals, which shall be registered and shown in the supplementary list for today.

2. This appeal by the State of West Bengal & others is directed against the interim order dated 19th February, 2024 in W.P.A. 4078 of 2024. By the said order, the learned Single Bench had stayed the operation of the order dated 18th February, 2024 passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Basirhat, North 24 Parganas passed under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

3. In the said writ petition i.e., W.P.A. 4078 of 2024, there were two writ petitioners. The first writ petitioner is a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and Leader of the Opposition and the second writ petitioner, a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. They prayed for permitting them to visit Sandeshkhali on 19th February, 2024 or 20th February, 2024 and also prayed for setting aside the communication dated February 15, 2024 issued by the Superintendent of Police, Basirhat Police District, where the permission to visit Sandeshkhali was denied on the ground that the visit of the writ petitioners might lead to violation of the order passed under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Basirhat.

4. The learned Single Bench while passing the interim order dated 19th February, 2024 has given elaborate reasons and after granting an order of stay of the order dated 18th February, 2024 passed under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the writ petitioners, the respondents herein were allowed to visit Sandeshkhali Gram Panchayat under Sandeshkhali Block – II on 20th February, 2024 subject to certain conditions, which in our opinion, appear to be very stringent conditions. For better appreciation, the relevant portion of the order is quoted hereinbelow:-

“The petitioners will be allowed to visit Sandeshkhali Gram Panchayat under Sandeshkhali Block – II on February 20, 2024.

The petitioners, with 9:30 p.m. of this date, shall submit their proposed plan of visit along with the route map before the local police station.

The petitioners shall also file an undertaking before the local police station not to engage in any activities that may lead to deterioration of the law and order situation in the locality. The State may deploy required number of security personnel to ensure that no untoward incident takes place during their visit.

The Superintendent of Police, Basirhat shall also file a report before this Court on the next date regarding the number of registered criminal cases relating to rape and sexual assault within the jurisdiction of Sandeshkhali Police Station from February 1, 2024, to the present date.”

5. The writ petition has been directed to be listed after seven days from the date of the order i.e., 19th February, 2024 and the State of West Bengal and the Union were at liberty to file their affidavits in response to the allegations made in the writ petition in the meantime.

6. Thus, it is clear that the learned Single Bench had granted an order of interim stay after recording its prima facie opinion and has kept open the option of the State of West Bengal to file their affidavits in response to the allegations made in the writ petition.

7. Therefore, we find that such a discretionary order cannot be interfered with, until and unless it is shown that it is patently illegal or an outcome of total non-application of mind or passed in utter disregard to the material facts. None of these three conditions stand attracted in the case for us to interfere with the said order.

8. The learned Advocate General appearing for the appellants/State submitted that as of now, the order passed under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been restricted to only twelve places. However, to be noted that the order passed under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been set aside by the order in W.P.A. 3869 of 2024 dated 13th February, 2024 against which an appeal has been pref