Protesters cannot hold innocent people to ransom by blocking highway, railway: HC
Times of India | 18 December 2024
12 Kolkata: Innocent citizens could not be held to ransom by indefinite protests on national highways and on railway tracks, the Calcutta High Court reiterated on Tuesday, restraining a social welfare organisation from conducting a highway block on Friday. The state was given the liberty to take action against people who violate the high court's order.
The organisation informed the NHAI that they were going to block NH-6 if their demands were not fulfilled and that they "would be forced to embark on a mass movement on Dec 20, involving thousands of tribal people". Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam strictly stated that they could not protest on highways or rail tracks even for a day. When asked if they could protest elsewhere, the CJ asked the organisation to take appropriate permission.
A writ petition was filed before the division bench of CJ Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, seeking to restrain the organisation from staging the protest on the highway, as planned.
The organisation, wanting to stage a demonstration, demanding the fulfilment of the rights of tribal people, particularly the Santhali community, had made a representation to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, demanding its immediate implementation. The six-point demand from the organisation included the setting up of Santali Education Board for Santhali-medium education and action against fake ST certificates. They demanded the formation of a committee, headed by a retired HC judge to oversee the implementation, to which the bench noted Advocate General Kishore Datta's statement that the state had already taken action and that a case was already pending in the high court.
Chief Justice Sivagnanam held: "None of the demands can be sought to be enforced by writ of mandamus as essentially they deal with policy matters as well as the classification of a particular community as a reserved category under the Constitution of India." Hence, the bench advised the state govt to consider their demands and call for a discussion.
The bench relied on their earlier order, where they declined the request of the Kurmi community, who planned an agitation proposing to indefinitely block the national highway and railways, affecting train services and the movement of other transport on Sept 20, 2023. The bench on Tuesday was informed that after they withdrew the protest following HC orders, they had stormed into Kolkata without prior notice or permission, causing great inconvenience to people in the city. It was also alleged that people were injured during the alleged "rampage".
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