A view of the Gauhati High Court.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
GUWAHATI
The Gauhati High Court has ordered four Assam government departments to provide basic amenities to members of 566 families living in a makeshift camp since their eviction from a wetland in June 2025.
These people, mostly Bengal-origin or Bengali-speaking Muslims, were ejected from Hasila Beel in western Assam’s Goalpara district during an anti-encroachment drive.
Sixty affected people had jointly filed a petition alleging that the evictions on the grounds that the land they inhabited formed a part of the Hasila Beel wetland was contrary to the law laid down by the Supreme Court in various judgements.
Life of destitution: petitioners
The petitioners said that the members of the families, including children, have been compelled to take refuge in a compact plot of patta (title deed) land belonging to “other persons”. They also said that they have been living in a state of destitution, without potable water, sanitation, food, or proper medical care.
“…a state of humanitarian crisis has ensued, leading to deaths and suffering among the people residing in makeshift camps since the date of their eviction,” the petition read.
Hearing the petition on Wednesday (February 18, 2026), the Bench of Justice Devashis Baruah directed the State departments of Health, Food and Civil Supplies, Public Health Engineering, and Elementary Education to immediately provide rations under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), medical services, drinking water, and sanitation facilities to the evicted families staying in makeshift camps.
The court also sought education facilities for the children of these evicted families.
Advocate Zunaid Khalid, who represented the petitioners, said that the court directed the government to file affidavits by March 9, outlining the basic amenities being provided.
Published – February 19, 2026 04:41 pm IST
