Meghalaya Orders Ban Against Bandhs

By Raju Das

Shillong, Feb 5 : Meghalaya today officially passed an order banning bandhs and threatened that disruptors of normal life would be imprisoned for a minimum period of three years with additional fines under the new order.

Minister in-charge of Law Bindo Lanong said that the government has amended the Meghalaya Maintenance of Public order Act, 1953 and inserted a clause in Section 6 of the Act, following a Cabinet meet. “Under the new clause, 6 (a), any person(s) or organization(s) disrupting normal life or destroying public, private property would be punished by imprisonment of not less than three years with additional fines,” Lanong said. The maximum period of imprisonment would not exceed seven years, he added.

The government, Lanong said, took the decision after the Gauhati High Court recently passed an order declaring bandhs in Assam and Meghalaya as “illegal and unconstitutional”. “Anyone who wants to contest the government’s decision should do so by filing a petition in the Supreme Court,” Lanong suggested.

Several organizations have earlier condemned the government’s proposal to impose ban on bandhs, stating they would defy the government’s decision as the move was “undemocratic”.