The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the authorities of the Alipore Zoological Garden here and the police to submit separate reports on incidents of alleged trespass at the zoo premises recently over control of its employees' trade union.
Justice Rajasekhar Mantha asked the director to inspect the entire zoo premises and CCTV footage of the area and submit a report on Wednesday on the encroachment as alleged by the petitioner, a leader of the union of workers there.
The court directed the police to examine the footage of CCTV cameras between January 23 and January 28 and file a detailed report before it. The police were also directed to provide to the zoo authority unedited CCTV footage the force has on the alleged incident of encroachers breaking the lock of the zoo's main gate and entering the premises on January 24 when it was closed to the public owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Petitioner Rakesh Singh, a leader of the union at the zoo, claimed that around 600 to 700 outsiders having allegiance to a rival group illegally entered the zoo premises on January 24 to forcibly take over the employees' trade union.
Petitioner's lawyer Billwadal Bhattacharya prayed for a direction for restoration of normalcy and that trespassers be evicted from the zoo premises.
The court directed Alipore and Watgunge police stations to ensure that there is no breach of peace and to attend to any request or complaint made in that regard.
With inputs from PTI
