Forced bandhs banned http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/10/06/stories/2006100600831100.htm "The Supreme Court of India has banned bandhs, but political parties still organise them." It was almost a decade ago, in July 1997, that the Kerala High Court delivered a path-breaking verdict declaring forced bandhs illegal. People cannot be made to participate in bandhs under duress, the court had said. Organisers of bandh "trample upon the right of the citizens protected by the Constitution," observed the court. "In simple terms, the judiciary laid down the rule that political parties and trade unions have a right to protest, but the citizens have an equal right to not support their action," explains K.V.A. Iyer on www.harthal.com.
"The Kerala High Court has twice in a span of four years, delivered judgements curbing the right of trade unions and political parties to call for bandh. The Supreme Court in November 1997 in the Communist Party of India vs Bharatkumar and others upheld Kerala High Court's order making bandhs illegal." Kerala-watchers know how the bandh and hartal (strike) jinx has cost the State dearly in terms of lost investments in BPO, and unhealthy impact on health tourism. The Bombay High Court went one step further, when on July 23, 2004, it imposed a fine of Rs 20 lakh each on two political parties, viz. the BJP and the Shiv Sena, for organising a bandh in Mumbai on July 30, 2003, as a protest against bomb blasts in the city. The petitioners had claimed damages of Rs 50 crore on the basis of GDP (gross domestic product) loss to the city for one day of stoppage.. Another case that drew upon the strength of the apex court's ban on bandhs was that of the residents of the Gulberg Housing Society in Ahmedabad, in 2005. They claimed damages of Rs 64 crore for the loss of life and property sustained by family members during the Gujarat bandh called by three organisations, viz. the BJP, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). You may remember that the VHP called for the Gujarat bandh soon after the Godhra train incident of February 27, 2002. Bandh, as an issue, isn't closed. It may remain open, as long as citizens continue to take up the legal route and claim compensation for compulsory stoppages such as what happened on Wednesday in Karnataka.
