Tough stand against bandhs

The Gauhati High Court’s order passed on Tuesday declaring bandhs and blockades as illegal and unconstitutional is indeed a very significant one which will have lasting positive impact on the socio-economic health and well-being of Assam and her people. What is more significant is that the High Court has also issued a series of guidelines in the form of directions for curbing the menace of bandhs and blockades. These include filing FIRs against individuals and groups calling bandhs, expeditious inquiry by the police, and filing chargesheets before the competent criminal court promptly so that the offenders could be tried in a fast-track mode. The High Court also asked the Assam Police Accountability Commission to monitor filing of first information and registration of cases and take appropriate action in case of any default or non-seriousness in complying with the court directions. The Commission would also have to submit a monitoring report to the registrar (judicial) of the high court once every three months. Justice Ujjwal Bhuyan in his order also directed the Commissioner and Secretary of Home and Political Department to file contempt petition(s) against the organisers and main office-bearers of the group that call bandhs and blockades. What is most important is that the monetary loss caused to the state on account of any bandh or blockade would be recovered from the organizers and main office-bearers of groups that call bandhs and blockades.

This order of the bandh comes about ten years after the same court had passed its first such order declaring bandhs and blockades illegal, unconstitutional and violative of human rights. That time the High Court had also asked the Assam and Meghalaya governments to take a tough stand against bandhs. Interestingly, while the Assam government promised to enact a law to deal with such offenders, put up a draft law on its website in 2013 and simply forgot about it, the government of Meghalaya swiftly announced imposition of penalty on groups and individuals calling bandhs and blockades. In 2015, the High Court of Meghalaya also debarred media from publishing and airing news about bandhs and blockades, following which people in Meghalaya have been living in peace or the past four years or so. The Assam government unfortunately continued to blatantly flout the High Court’s directives for reasons best known only to it.

There is no denying the fact that bandhs and blockades which were popularized by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) during the 1979-85 popular movement against Bangladeshi infiltrators subsequently became a culture in the state. Things have come to such a pass that a couple of high school or college dropouts who have little understanding of what Assam exactly means, sets up an organization by printing a letter-head, indulges in extortion and forcible donations and calls bandhs and blockades. A section of the media – particularly the TV news channels of Guwahati – gives such groups unnecessary importance and carries news of such bandhs and blockades, thus providing those groups meaningless publicity, which in turn makes life horrible for the common people apart from affecting the state’s economy and development. What is now required is a commitment from the government of Assam, all registered political parties and registered student bodies that they honour the High Court’s order. The media should also consider it a responsibility to take the people’s side and completely stop giving publicity to bandhs and blockades. Simultaneously, the government should also find out whether the groups calling bandhs are registered groups or not. If not, then action should be taken under provisions of the law to ban such unlawful associations too.