In a major setback to the central Government, the Delhi High Court’s Justice Rajiv Shakder on Thursday termed the Ministry of Home Affairs’ decision to bar Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai from travelling to the UK in January 2015 as undemocratic, stating “you cannot muzzle dissent in a democracy”.
Justice Shakder further ordered that the look Out Circular in her name be quashed, the offload stamp expunged from her record and that she be removed from any Intelligence Bureau database.
Greenpeace India welcomed the court’s decision as a vindication of the group’s legitimacy and the validity of its campaigns for the rights of people to their land and forests, for clean energy, a healthy environment and to hold corporations and the Government accountable.
Pillai while talking to The Pioneer after the court order said, “We are relieved that the court has cracked down on this undemocratic abuse of power by the Government. The bar on my travel was a clear violation of civil rights.”
Over the course of several hearings, the Government was unable to provide evidence to substantiate its claim that Pillai was working against national interests.
Pillai and Greenpeace India have been supporting tribal villages in the Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh opposed to the Mahan coal mine, which threatens a large forest area that many thousands depend on for their livelihoods.
Pillai was not allowed to board her flight to london on January 11, allegedly because her name figured on a ‘lookout circular’ issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Pillai’s passport was stamped with the word ‘Offload’.