The Kerala High Court on Thursday held that the right to protest against the government does not confer upon an individual the right to obstruct a legally permitted project, Bar and Bench reported.
Justice Anu Sivaraman, during a hearing in the Adani Vizhinjam Port Pvt. Ltd. and others versus the state of Kerala and others, noted that the right to protest only meant the right to peaceful protests.
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The court ordered that police protection be given to workers and other officials of Adani ports who are engaged in the Kerala port construction.
“This Court has time and again considered the issue of competing interests in the grant of police protection and has held that a right to protests can only mean a right to protest peacefully and that there can be no right to obstruct a legally permitted project or activity in the guise of a protest, whatever be the reason for the protest,” the judgment read, as quoted by Bar and Bench.
Fishermen have been protesting against the construction of a port in Kerala’s Vizhinjam, where the Adani group started construction on December 5, 2015. The fishermen have been demanding proper environmental impact studies, rehabilitation of families who lost their homes to coastal erosion as well as to rectify the damages caused in the coast, among others.
The Court had passed the order on two petitions that were moved by Adani Ports and by its contracting partner Howe Engineering Projects, seeking police protection. The petitioners claimed that protesters blocked the entry and exit points of the construction site, adding that construction work had been stalled since August 17 due to the protests.
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The petitioners said that environmental clearance was given to the group in 2014.