Victory to the people of Kaziranga. The Gauhati High Court on Friday, November 6, quashed the detention of indigenous rights activist Pranab Doley under the National Security Act and ordered his immediate release after 118 days in Golaghat District Jail.
A Division Bench of Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Susmita Phukan Khaund declared the detention illegal, noting the state "has not applied its mind as to whether ordinary laws were insufficient." The judgment is a textbook rebuke of preventive detention misuse.
Timeline reveals intent. Doley, 40, convenor of Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee, was arrested July 12 for leading a protest at Ingle Pathar village against the Assam Tourism Development Corporation-Hyatt luxury hotel and Tea Tribes Museum project near Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to 2,600 one-horned rhinos.
Golaghat court granted him bail July 29, observing key witnesses already examined, no tampering risk, and video failed to show direct attack on police. Next day, July 30, Assam government invoked NSA under Section 3(2) — claiming "suspicious foreign transactions" and FCRA violations, prejudicial to public order and security of state.
Court found four fatal flaws: reliance on stale cases — 13 cases cited, 9 already acquitted, 3 live, 1 at evidence stage; failure to furnish relevant documents; non-consideration of his second representation; and inability to establish "live and proximate link" between his foreign travels/remittances and threat to national security.
"Detention on strength of stale cases... adopted a shortcut to detain," the bench observed.
This is not just one activist. Kaziranga's fringe villages — Hatikhuli, Ingle Pathar — have faced evictions, resort expansion, and erosion of community forest rights since 2015. Doley's committee has fought Hyatt project for three years, saying it displaces Misings and Tea Tribes on forest land.
At a time when NSA, UAPA are invoked routinely for protest, Gauhati HC's order reaffirms Article 22 safeguards. In democratic decline, courts remain last check.
Doley walked out of jail Friday evening. Villagers gathered, with gamusas. 118 days — July monsoon to November winter — in jail for opposing a five-star hotel near rhino habitat.
As you said, this is victory for indigenous struggle, victory to people's resistance. But also warning: bail to NSA in 24 hours is now standard template. Without HC intervention, 12 months preventive detention without trial would have been reality.
*Tags:* #PranabDoley #Kaziranga #NSAQuashed #GauhatiHighCourt #118Days #IndigenousRights #HyattHotel #Assam #LandRights #Democracy