'Inhumanity of Highest Order': HC Slams Assam Govt Over State of Camp Housing Evicted Families
'Most unfortunate part is…see the list…all people from one community,' the Gauhati high court told the Himanta Biswa Sarma government.
New Delhi: Calling the living conditions of evictees in a rehabilitation camp in Assam’s Hojai district “inhumanity of the highest order”, the Gauhati high court has come down heavily on the Himanta Biswa Sarma government for not making adequate arrangements for them.
The high court’s Chief Justice, Sandeep Mehta, was hearing the case on the state of affairs at the rehabilitation camp in Doboka area of the district. The camp houses hundreds of families displaced in an eviction drive in November 2021. It is about 156 km from state capital Guwahati.
Justice Mehta told the Assam government advocate D. Nath on April 21, “How long can you keep people like cattle in temporary shelters built of tarpaulin?”
“Justice Mehta made these comments based on a report submitted by senior advocate Bhaskar Dev Konwar, who had visited the rehabilitation camp on April 20 on the high court’s instructions,” reported The Indian Express.
The HC had taken suo motu cognisance of a recent report in an Assamese newspaper which had stated that 50 children between 18 months and six years old had fallen seriously ill at the camp and had to be admitted to the hospital. Konwar was appointed amicus curie by the high court.
The evictees were from a drive carried out by the state government near Lumding Reserve Forest. The eviction drive was carried out by the forest department as per an order of the high court based on a public interest litigation filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Hojai, Shiladitya Dev.
The news report said, ‘Konwar’s 36-page report highlights the conditions in the camp and calls it ‘worse than that of a cowshed’.”
The report had said, “The lack of basic human necessities like toilets and bathrooms are making the life of inmates of the camp miserable”.
It said, ‘The tubewells…are full of iron and there is no provision for filtration. Additionally, there is no drainage system, no electricity….” The Assamese newspaper report based on which the HC had filed a sou motu case, had said that those hospitalised had symptoms of fever, diarrhoea and vomiting.
As many as 735 children are residing in the camp. The court took particular note of the state of the children in Konwar’s report which called them “most affected”, adding, “Majority of them do not have proper clothing…They appear malnourished and have pale fingernails.”
Justice Mehta told the government advocate, “Just think of your own child…living in a tarpaulin…for two years…can you imagine the plight?” When the government claimed that the children were getting medical attention, Justice Mehta struck back, asking, “Where will they go after the treatment…again to the same hellhole? What do you expect?”
The Sarma government, since May 2021, through multiple eviction drives, has displaced at least 4,449 families, a majority of whom are Bengali-origin Muslims, the Indian Express report pointed out. The court told the state government counsel, “Most unfortunate part is…see the list…all people from one community.”
Konwar’s report to the high court has recommendations to better the living condition of the camp residents, including facilities for clean drinking water, electricity, a mobile medical unit, etc.
The court has asked the government to “immediately address the issue”. An East Mojo report said, “He (Justice Mehta) asked the government counsel to submit a report of how many temporary shelters have been set up across the state pursuant to the government’s eviction drives, how many evicted people were rehabilitated and the status of the others.”
While the East Mojo report had the number of families residing at the Doboka camp as 405, the Indian Express report stated it was 350.
The next date of hearing has been set for May 8.