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A bench of Justice Anu Sivaraman was hearing a contempt of court case filed by Adani Vizhinjam Port Pvt Ltd (AVPL), alleging non-implementation of the court’s order of September 1 to provide police protection against protesting fishermen.
The court asked why those who resorted to rioting and those who exhorted for it near the project site were not arrested. Asking what steps the government took to maintain peace in the locality, the court said the government does not have to wait for the court’s orders to take action if violence occurs.
However, the government told the court that it was doing everything possible and said 40 policemen were injured in Sunday night’s attack on the Vizhinjam police station. Around 3,000 protesters are at the project site and over 500 policemen have been deployed. The government also said it will file a detailed statement indicating the steps taken by it, including photos and videos.
Last week, the protesters had assured the court that heavy vehicles to the project site would not be blocked. AVPL’s counsel pointed out that the protesters attacked the heavy vehicles on Saturday.
They resorted to violence to show that they are not willing to obey the law. The government machinery watched helplessly and did not even proclaim prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC to avert the dangerous situation, the counsel pointed out.
Responding to this, the government said it is trying to solve the issue without allowing any untoward incidents and that summoning central forces would not bring any change.
The Union government said that there need not be any preconceptions about what the central forces can or cannot do and that it is not the state government that should be informing the court about deploying central forces. The court then asked the government to file a report about the incidents at Vizhinjam and posted the case for Friday.
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