The high court on Thursday granted bail to nine persons remanded in police custody by the Alipore court following their arrest for allegedly protesting outside the Tridhara Sanmelani pandal on Wednesday night demanding justice for the RG Kar rape-and-murder victim.

A special bench headed by Justice Shampa Sarkar said protests would not be allowed within 200m of a puja pandal and the puja carnival on Red Road would not be disturbed by protesters.

The nine arrested will be out on interim bail till November 15. Each of those arrested will have to appear in their respective local police stations once a week till then, the court said.

The arrested would not be allowed to hold protests outside any puja pandal, theorder said.

On Wednesday, the police picked up the nine persons from outside the Tridhara pandal while they were allegedly distributing pamphlets in support of the doctors’ agitation and raising slogans at a time the evening puja rituals had just begun.

The nine were taken to the central lock-up in Lalbazar in a police van, a move that prompted a group of people to converge on Bentinck Street and Bowbazar and plan a march to Lalbazar. The police stalled them.

Those arrested were charged under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including ones on unlawful assembly, assaulting a public servant while on duty and public mischief, and also under the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Act.

Arguing in support of police custody, the public prosecutor told the court that based on conversations on WhatsApp, it appeared a bigger conspiracy had been hatched.

It was necessary to question the nine in police custody and send their mobile phones for forensic tests, said the public prosecutor.

Contesting the order for police custody, CPM leader and advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya submitted that the nine had gathered to protest seeking justice for the raped and murdered junior doctor. “Is it a crime to rise in protest?” Bhattacharya asked the court.

The special bench headed by Justice Sarkar directed that the nine be released on interim bail after hearing both sides.

As news of the bail reached the protest site at Esplanade, a section of junior doctors broke into tears while others clapped in joy.

The protesters said the demand for justice for the slain doctor would continue to spread over the next few days.