Chennai: The opposition charge that the anti-sterlite agitation on Tuesday was mishandled by the government and the police response was inadequate, finds support in a recent order of the Madras high court on this issue.
Dealing with the Sterlite’s petition seeking declaration of area “to the radius up to one kilometer” around the factory as “Protest Free Zone”/”No Protest Zone”, Justice M.S.Ramesh of the Madurai Bench of the Madras high court had even on May 18 noted that from the wordings in the protesters’ pamphlets in circulation, it was clear that they “do not have any intention to conduct a peaceful protest”.
“On an overall reading of the pamphlets as well as taking into consideration of the various disturbances and untoward incidents happening in and around the petitioner factory, the proposed protest is likely to trigger a law and order situation and in this scenario, invoking section 144 of Cr.P.C would be highly recommended in public interest.
This recommendation is being consciously made in view of the earlier antecedents where several cases have been registered against violators and the present pamphlet also indicates the possibility of an unlawful assembly and an illegal protest”, the judge had stated in his order allowing Sterlite’s petition and directing the Thoothukudi district collector to consider Sterlite’s request for invoking section 144 of Cr.P.C.
The judge had then noted that the Sterlite had sought such protection from the collector in representation of April 9 and a reminder on April 16. “…such a representation cannot be kept pending indefinitely, particularly, when there are sufficient materials to show that there is a possibility of a protest on May 22.
Non consideration of the representation would amount to dereliction of the ordinary duties of the district collector, the first respondent in the petition, and in such circumstances, this court would be justified in invoking its power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and direct the district collector to consider the representation”.
It’s thus clear that the district administration was literally driven by the court to issue the 144 order, while the subsequent ground reports and Tuesday’s eruption prove further that there has not been any matching response from the administration to the impending threat that even a judge of the high court, sitting in his chamber was able to spot by merely looking at the pamphlets of the protesting outfits long in circulation.
What’s police intelligence doing all these days?
They have been protesting for 100 days even while planning strategies to escalate the temperature and decibels; yet cops seem to have lost their ears-and-eyes in the dustbin of political espionage”, quipped a one-time cop. He says he is ‘at great peace and happiness’ just rewinding his days in the force ‘in those glorious years gone by’.
“Every chota (small) chap now is making big noise—organising road blocks, damaging public property, paralyzing administration, packing away the IPL with snakes, et cetera, et cetera—and yet the police intelligence does not appear to be alert to its responsibilities of bringing to the notice of the government the potential trouble spots before the amber turns red. They (intel cops) seem to be more involved in spying about political rivals of the ruling party, than be bothered about peace and public order”.
