'Over Generalization': Gauhati HC On PIL Alleging Bengali-Speaking Community Targeted In Assam; Seeks State's Response

The Gauhati High Court today directed the Assam Government to respond by July 20 to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea alleging that the state's Bengali-speaking community is being targeted in many ways.

The PIL plea, filed by All BTC Minority Students' Union (ABMSU), claims that the Government has introduced certain policies and measures that adversely affect the state's Bengali-speaking community through the back door.

Hearing the PIL plea today, the Court termed the allegations to be "very general and vague". A bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury noted that an "over-generalization" had been made in a PIL plea challenging specific state policies.

"On a plain reading of the averments made in the writ petition, it appears that the allegations are very general and vague," the Court observed.

It may be noted that to substantiate the claims made in the PIL plea, the petitioner referred to a special scheme of the state government to grant arms licenses to indigenous people in vulnerable areas. This, the PIL plea alleged, could escalate communal tension.

The petitioner also referred to the eviction drives, alleging that they are carried out in an arbitrary and inhuman manner without following the due process of law, and, more often than not, they target specific minority community groups.

The bench, however, was prima facie unimpressed by the averments made in the Petition. "There could be myriad reasons for grant of license to indigenous people in vulnerable areas, which may not necessarily be for the purpose of targeting the minority community," the Court noted.

Nonetheless, the bench directed the state government to file a counter-affidavit in the matter positively by July 20.