The Calcutta High Court directed Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee to file affidavits in a contempt petition alleging violation of its 2018 order during the TMC’s July 21, 2025 Martyrs’ Day rally. The matter has been listed for hearing on August 17.
On Friday, the Calcutta High Court directed Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee and its general secretary Abhishek Banerjee to file affidavits in a contempt petition. The petition alleges that the court’s earlier directions were violated during the party’s July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally in 2025, when arterial roads were allegedly blocked.
The petitioner claimed contempt of the High Court’s order dated May 2018, which required that public meetings or gatherings on thoroughfares should not result in a complete shutdown of the road.
Hearing the matter before a division bench led by Justice Arijit Banerjee, the court ordered Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee to file their affidavits within four weeks, outlining their stand on the allegations raised in the contempt petition.
The court also instructed the petitioner to submit his reply affidavit within the following two weeks. The division bench also comprising Justice Apurba Sinha Ray fixed the next hearing for August 17.
In 2018, a division bench consisting of then Chief Justice Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee had directed that passage must be left open on such roads for the movement of pedestrians and emergency vehicles.
Lawyer Srikanta Dutta, the petitioner, filed the contempt petition on June 19, alleging that the TMC’s July 21, 2025 rally led to total blockage of arterial roads in the city’s central area near Esplanade, thereby violating the 2018 order.
The division bench had earlier directed that notice be issued to TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee and party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
Background of the Case
The contempt proceedings arise from allegations that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) violated earlier directions of the Calcutta High Court during its annual July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally held in Kolkata in 2025. The petitioner has alleged that despite judicial directions prohibiting complete blockage of major roads, the rally resulted in the closure of key arterial roads around Esplanade, severely disrupting traffic and public movement.
The dispute has its origins in a 2018 judgment of the Calcutta High Court, in which a Division Bench directed that political rallies and public meetings on major thoroughfares should not result in the total blockage of roads. The Court had specifically ordered that sufficient passage must always be kept open to facilitate the movement of pedestrians and emergency vehicles, while balancing the citizens’ right to free movement with the constitutional right to assemble peacefully.
Ahead of the July 21, 2025 Martyrs’ Day rally, concerns were raised over the expected turnout of nearly 10 lakh people and the likely traffic congestion in central Kolkata. Hearing a petition filed by the All India Lawyers’ Union, Justice Tirthankar Ghosh directed the Kolkata Police to ensure that no processions took place between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., so that office-goers could commute without disruption. The Court also instructed the police to maintain smooth traffic movement within a five-kilometre radius of the Calcutta High Court and other important commercial areas.
Following the rally, the petitioner alleged that these directions, as well as the 2018 Division Bench order, had been violated because large stretches of roads around Esplanade and Dharmatala were allegedly completely blocked, causing significant inconvenience to commuters and obstructing normal traffic. Contending that this amounted to wilful disobedience of the Court’s orders, the petitioner initiated contempt proceedings against TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
On June 19, 2026, the Calcutta High Court issued notices to Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee in the contempt petition. Subsequently, on July 3, 2026, the Court directed both leaders to file affidavits responding to the allegations. The matter is presently pending before the High Court, which will determine whether the party’s conduct during the 2025 Martyrs’ Day rally amounted to wilful violation of its earlier judicial directions.
The July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally is one of the Trinamool Congress’s most significant annual political events. It commemorates the death of 13 Youth Congress workers who were killed in police firing during a rally led by Mamata Banerjee on July 21, 1993, when she was a Congress leader protesting for electoral reforms. Since the formation of the Trinamool Congress, the party has continued to organise the annual rally at Kolkata’s Esplanade as a tribute to those killed, making it one of the largest political gatherings in West Bengal each year.
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