GUWAHATI: A group of activists from Delhi, who tried to enter Assam by road via West Bengal to visit a detention camp for illegal immigrants, was detained and then sent back by Assam Police on Friday.
The activists, numbering 17, were travelling by a bus that was intercepted at Srirampur check gate on Assam-West Bengal border in Assam’s Kokrajhar district.
The activists, including Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey, had come under the banner of “Samvidhan Bachao, Nagarikta Bachao, Bharat Banao Yatra” and they wanted to visit the detention camp being built at Matia in Assam’s Goalpara district.
The activists were members of Socialist Party India, Khudai Khidmatgaar, National Alliance of People’s Movement and Justice Forum Assam.
The Kokrajhar district authorities had prior information about the team’s visit and as such, they enforced prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in the area two days ago and deployed a large number of personnel of the police and paramilitary forces on Friday.
The police said the activists were denied entry as their presence in the state would have vitiated peace and tranquillity.
“Section 144 of the CrPC was imposed. There was all the likelihood that the team’s presence could disturb the fragile balance among the communities and peace and tranquillity in the district. Accordingly, an order was issued by the District Magistrate. On the basis of it, they were stopped at the border. After all formalities, they left,” Inspector General of Police Anurag Agarwal told this newspaper.
Kokrajhar Superintendent of Police, Rakesh Roushan, said before their arrival, the activists were intimated not to go ahead with the visit but they did not pay heed to it.
Pandey told journalists at the site that they had set out from Raj Ghat in New Delhi.
“Why are they so afraid? We wanted to see only a building,” he said.
Fellow activist Faisal Khan said they had planned a human chain near the Matia detention camp.
“We learnt about the enforcement of Section 144 of the CrPC last night. When we arrived at around 1 pm today, we saw some 400-500 security personnel deployed to the site,” he said.
The activists started their journey on February 23 and they travelled via Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.