ON November 8, 2024, the Chhattisgarh government issued a gazette notification declaring the Moolvasi Bachao Manch (MBM) as an ‘unlawful organisation’ under its Special Public Security Act (CSPSA).
Like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, the CSPSA empowers the government to proscribe organisations which, in its opinion, are engaged in unlawful activities.
The notification cites two reasons for this action: first, that the organisation opposes development works of the Union and state government in “Maoist-affected areas”; and second, that it mobilises the public against the setting up of security camps on their lands.
This unilateral ban comes into effect immediately, for one year, without prior confirmation by any judicial authority, and without affording a prior opportunity to the MBM to be heard against the ban.
This organisational ban demonstrates two deleterious subversions of constitutional law and criminal process. The first conflates democratic protest and assembly with ‘unlawful activities’, leading to their criminalisation under security laws such as the UAPA and Public Security Acts in different states. The first two parts of this article address, specifically, the grounds for the ban on the MBM against the scope of ‘unlawful activities’ under these laws.
