Kerala HC on hartals: Use Army if state can’t protect its citizens

A full bench of the Kerala High Court today held that the government was bound to ensure normal life during hartals and general strikes and if the government felt that it was not able to give adequate protection, it should request the Centre for deputing the Army or paramilitary forces so that there would not be any constitutional breakdown or violation of the fundamental rights of the citizens.

The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice N.K.Sodhi, Justice J.B. Koshy and Justice A.K.Basheer, held that hartals and general strikes are bandhs in other names, which had been held unconstitutional by an earlier full bench and upheld by the Supreme Court.

The court also directed that those who call for hartals should make it clear in their call that nobody would be compelled to participate in the hartal/strike, that traffic would not be obstructed and that the fundamental rights to move about freely would not be affected.