Rights and wrongs: On the fundamental right to peaceful assembly and protest

The Constitution of India guarantees all citizens the fundamental right to peaceful assembly and protest. The right to organise, assemble, and speak is at the core of democracy, and the curtailment of any of the fundamental rights is a curtailment of democracy itself. That being the promise of the Constitution to every citizen, regardless of gender, caste, or status, it is unsettling that the Government of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is brazenly knocking down those rights through police high-handedness across the country, particularly in Delhi, the capital. Youth and student organisations, such as the CJP, the AISA, SFI and AISF, had called for a peaceful protest on October 10. Instead of ensuring peaceful assembly, as per the law of the land, the Centre ordered a countrywide swoop, where thousands of young people were taken into preventive detention and Delhi was locked down as if under martial law. Trains were cancelled and stopped, passengers waylaid, and journalists, activists, academics, and lawyers assaulted and detained, all in shocking misuse and weaponisation of the law against democracy itself. In the heart of Delhi, police personnel without identification badges have been recorded on video. What Delhi witnessed on Saturday was a repeat, in a greater degree, of the police high-handedness in July against youth protesters. Despite video evidence of male police personnel assaulting women protesters during that episode, months later, neither the government nor the Supreme Court of India has held anyone accountable for the law enforcement excesses.

On October 9, the Court had said that a blanket ban on travel or assembly could not be allowed. But that is exactly what was done in Delhi, as people, including several former Chief Ministers, senior politicians, and lawyers, were rounded up from around the city. On Sunday, the Court, in its hearing, acknowledged the urgency and seriousness of the issue, and repeated its directives. But piecemeal orders and half-hearted lamentations by the Court have had no restraining impact on a government that seems to be doubling down on its practice of branding critics as foreign agents and anti-nationals instead of coming clean on its record. The BJP government is going this far in defence of an official — the Chief Election Commissioner of India, Gyanesh Kumar. Instead of calling for accountability from the Election Commission of India, which has disenfranchised millions of Indians in a clear act of illegality, the BJP and its central and State governments are deploying the strong arm of the state to defend him. That itself suggests that Mr. Kumar’s relationship with the BJP is different from his relationship with all other parties. The Modi government should play by the rules, and not misuse power against citizens.