Calcutta High Court Denies Human Rights Group's Request for Stall at Kolkata Book Fair
Click to start listening
Kolkata, Jan 10 (NationPress) The Calcutta High Court on Friday dismissed a request from a prominent human rights organization for a stall at the Kolkata International Book Fair 2025, which is set to begin at the end of this month.
The Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) had approached the single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha last week after the Publishers & Booksellers Guild, the organizer of the fair, denied its request for space within the fairgrounds to establish a stall.
In their petition, the APDR accused the guild officials of lacking the necessary transparency in the process of stall allocation.
The case was heard at Justice Sinha's bench on Friday.
During the hearing, the Guild's attorney argued that the APDR failed to submit essential documents, including licenses, registration certificates, and catalogs, which are required for stall allocation.
The APDR's counsel did not dispute the objections raised by the Guild's attorney. Instead, they claimed that their application for stall allotment was rejected due to their criticism regarding the absence of stalls from Bangladeshi publishers this year, a stark contrast to previous years.
Following this, Justice Sinha remarked that since the book fair is a private event and not state-run, the validity of the APDR's petition was not upheld, resulting in its dismissal.
This year’s Kolkata International Book Fair is scheduled from January 28 to February 9. With Germany as the theme country for this event, the Guild has confirmed participation from countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Italy, Spain, Peru, Argentina, and Colombia, but notably, no publishers from Bangladesh.
