The recent confrontation at Azad Maidan in Panaji — where police blocked access and detained peaceful activists — highlights a troubling tension between executive enforcement and constitutional rights. Retired High Court Chief Justice Ferdino Rebello challenging authorities on the legal basis for denying assembly underscores the vital role an independent judiciary plays in safeguarding democratic spaces. Comparing high-handed policing to colonial tactics—whether under Salazar’s Estado Novo regime in Goa or the British Raj at Jallianwala Bagh—points to a stark historical truth. Imperial powers maintained control by using local enforcement against their own people. When post-independence authorities rely on preventive detentions and arbitrary protest bans, citizens naturally question whether democratic administration is defaulting to colonial habits. While constitutional remedies like emergency court interventions remain functional, the health of our democracy depends on how state agencies balance order with fundamental rights. Using local police to suppress peaceful assemblies erodes trust in public institutions. Executive permissions and police action must serve the Constitution, not administrative convenience.
EVERETTE ASSIS TELLES, Via email
