[ Indu Chukhu ]
ITANAGAR, 29 Sep: Designated senior Supreme Court advocate Colin Gonsalves was stopped at the Ruksin gate in East Siang district last Saturday on grounds of ‘suspicion’ in connection with the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) in the Siang valley.
He was stranded for four hours at the Ruksin gate, the entry point to Pasighat in East Siang district.
He said, “In India, the Constitution provides the right to travel and reside in any part of the country. I can’t reside in states with the ILP regime, but I can travel anywhere in the country.”
Gonsalves informed that he received a call from the Ruksin police station OC at midnight, rudely telling him to leave the region by 3 pm on Sunday.
While he was travelling with an anti-dam activist with one day’s ILP towards the Siang belt, 10 policemen set up barricades on the road, and the policemen told him to go back.
Gonsalves had taken a flight from Delhi to Dibrugarh in Assam, and travelled to Ruksin to see the condition of the dam project areas in the Siang belt. He had also wanted to meet the project-affected people in Siang and Upper Siang districts, and to assist advocate Sunny Tayeng, the counsel of Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum (SIFF) legal adviser Bhanu Tatak.
He finally had to cut short his trip and go back to Dibrugarh, from where he took a flight back to Delhi on Sunday.
Gonsalves is also the founder of the Human Rights Law Network and has specialization in human rights protection, labour laws and public interest laws. In 2017, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for his tireless and innovative use of public interest litigation over three decades to secure fundamental human rights for the country’s most marginalized and vulnerable citizens.
It is to be noted that travel restrictions have been imposed on people opposing the SUMP. Earlier, SIFF legal adviser Bhanu Tatak, who is also a law student, had received an invitation to a three-month academic programme at the Dublin City University, but she had been stopped at the Delhi airport as a look out circular (LOC) had been issued against her.
Gonsalves had represented Tatak at the high court regarding the LOC. He submitted that Tatak has never been furnished with a copy of the LOC. Gonsalves further submitted that, despite making several requests for a copy of the LOC, it has not been given to Tatak till date.
Tatak’s counsel Sunny Tayeng also stated the same thing on the LOC issued against Tatak.
Gonsalves submitted that Tatak, although late, is still interested in going to the Dublin City University for the three-month academic programme, and that the LOC issued against Tatak may be stayed and she may be allowed to travel abroad.
“In view of the above, issue notice of motion returnable by 26 September, 2025,” read the HC order.
“The minimum duration for which a person can stay in the state with an ILP is 15 days, and every Indian citizen is legally entitled to avail of ILP till the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and if the government is against it, the government should have very strong reasons to oppose or counter it,” informed a civil servant.
On Sunday evening, human rights activist, advocate Ebo Mili, who is also opposed to the SUMP, was summoned by a special investigation team (SIT) in Chimpu in connection with a case registered at the Boleng police station in May this year. The interrogation lasted at least three hours.
Mili has been summoned again on 2 October for the final examination.
Meanwhile, the All Adi Youth Association condemned Saturday’s incident at the Ruksin check gate, terming it “a constitutional breakdown of administration.”
It appealed to the Siang district administration to not be unreasonable towards anyone who has legitimate reasons to enter the Adi belt.
