MP HC seeks directions for officials against working under political pressure

In a January 20 order uploaded on Thursday, Justice Vivek Agrawal cited discrepancies in the externment order and said no statements of witnesses were recorded and registration of cases cannot be grounds for it.

Anantram Awase, the activist from the Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan, moved the court against the Burhanpur district magistrate’s January 2024 order to extern him for a year after a protest against deforestation.

The court fined the state government ₹50,000 for harassing Awase. It said forest offences have been mentioned in the magistrate’s order. It added they cannot be the grounds for banishing Awase under the Madhya Pradesh State Security Act, 1990. The court said the law says a convicted person can be banished. It added there is no material on record to show that Awase has been convicted for two other offences registered against him in 2019 and 2022.

The court said provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Security Act could not have been invoked against Awase without his conviction, and therefore the externment order was illegal and set aside.

The court said the magistrate tried to gloss over his failure to record statements. It added the official misled the court by saying that none of the witnesses came forward to record statements. The court said if this would have been true, the magistrate should have disclosed the names of such persons but did not do so.

Awase’s lawyer, Priyal Suryavanshi, said the banishment ended on January 22. He added his client wanted the order to be examined on its merits and be seen as the magistrate acting beyond his authority guided by extraneous considerations.

Awase was booked for 11 offences including using forest produce without permission and cutting trees under the Indian Forest Act between 2018 and 2023. In 2019 and 2022, he was booked rioting, attempting to murder, and preventing a public servant from performing his duties.