Prohibitory Orders Imposed in Assam’s Karbi Anglong After Protests Turn Violent, BJP Leader’s Ancestral Home Torched

Authorities imposed prohibitory orders across Assam’s Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong districts on Monday after protests demanding the eviction of alleged encroachers from protected grazing land spiralled into violence, resulting in arson, vandalism and clashes with security forces. The unrest culminated in the torching of the ancestral house of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) chief Tuliram Ronghang, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in the state.

New rules on animal testing must take India forward, not backwards: Maneka Gandhi Officials maintain the changes seek to simplify approvals for research institutions, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries. Updated on: Oct 26, 2026, 14:54:47 IST By Jasjeev Gandhiok Prefer HTPrefer HT Prefer HT on Google Share The Centre’s draft rules governing animal experimentation have triggered concerns among animal rights groups, which say the changes could weaken independent oversight and make it easier for laboratories to conduct experiments on animals. However, officials maintain the changes seek to simplify approvals for research institutions, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries. Former Union minister Maneka Gandhi. Former Union minister Maneka Gandhi. HT speaks to animal rights activist and former Union minister Maneka Gandhi, a long-time campaigner against animal experimentation. Edited excerpts: A major change to animal experimentation, proposed in the draft, is that mild and moderate experiments could be approved by an institution’s own ethics committee rather than going to the central regulator. In practical terms, what does this change mean for an animal inside a laboratory? Does it make it easier for more animals to be experimented on? It means the animal loses the one independent pair of eyes that was looking at its fate. Today, experiments on animals larger than a rat go to the central regulator, and there is at least someone outside the building asking whether this experiment is necessary at all. Under the draft, the people who want to do the experiment, their colleagues and their department heads will be the ones approving it. And it is the institution itself, through its own veterinarian, that decides whether the experiment is mild or moderate in the first place. No institution has ever turned down its own funding. So yes, it will make it easier, and it will make it faster, and that means more animals. Mild and moderate are also the bulk of experiments, so we are effectively handing over most of animal experimentation in India to self regulation. The draft classifies experiments as mild, moderate, severe and non-recovery. Is there a concern that the institution conducting the research will effectively decide how severe the experiment is. Does this leave a grey area? It isn’t grey, it is completely black. Under this draft, the institution that wants to do the experiment is also the one that decides which category it falls into. That decision matters enormously, because if the experiment is classified as mild or moderate, the institution’s own committee approves it and it never goes to the central regulator. Only severe and non-recovery experiments on larger animals go outside. So the same people who want the experiment approved are deciding whether anyone independent will ever examine it. That is a clear conflict of interest, and it will push experiments towards the lower categories. Starving a rat for a day is called mild. Keeping a social animal alone in a cage is mild. Starving it for two days, or putting it through distress it cannot escape, is moderate. So is testing herbal products, testing established drugs, and anything described as having “known and reversible effects,” which could mean almost anything. This is not a scientific list. It is the most common commercial work. The draft also creates exceptions and allows laboratories to use animals from open markets, unregistered sources, and in certain circumstances, stray, feral, wild and protected animals. What is the biggest risk that this may create for animals in practice? Could community dogs, lost pets or animals taken from the wild find their way into laboratories? The biggest risk is that nobody will know where an animal came from. The whole point of registered breeders was traceability. Once you allow open markets and unregistered sources for cattle, goats, birds and fish, you create a demand, and in this country demand is met very quickly by people who will pick up anything. Strays and wild animals can be used if a “competent authority” permits it, and the draft never says who that is. Community dogs, someone’s lost pet, birds from illegal markets, all of it can find its way into a laboratory. These exceptions should be removed completely. If a lab cannot get an animal from a registered source, it should not be doing that experiment. The draft formally incorporates the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement, but critics say these safeguards become weaker if institutions themselves are approving experiments. Do you believe India should now be moving towards replacing animal experiments altogether, particularly when the health ministry has already allowed certain drug testing through non-animal methods? What should the rules do differently? Yes, and we are not starting from zero. The health ministry has already amended the drug rules to accept non-animal methods. The world is moving this way because these methods are often more predictive for humans than a mouse ever was. Writing replacement, reduction and refinement into the rules means nothing if the person checking compliance is the institution itself. The rules should make it mandatory to show that no validated alternative exists before an animal is used, set up a national body to validate and promote alternatives, put money into them, and set timelines to phase out animal use in areas where alternatives are already available. A rule that only mentions replacement as a principle is decoration. You have worked on animal experimentation regulation for decades. What specific changes would you want the government to make to this draft? I don’t think this draft can be fixed. There is hardly a provision in it that doesn’t need changing, and when everything needs to change, it is better to start again. So the draft should be put aside and written afresh, this time with independent scientists, animal welfare organisations and legal experts at the table. The new rules must take India forward, not backwards. Animals already have certain protections under the law which cannot be taken away. New should be building on them.

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According to police, the violence erupted after demonstrators clashed with security personnel in Kheroni and surrounding areas. At least four people were injured in the clashes, including three protesters and a jawan of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Several houses, shops and public properties were vandalised or set ablaze as large crowds blocked roads and attacked vehicles, prompting the administration to deploy additional forces.

The situation worsened when the unrest spread to Dongkamokam, Ronghang’s constituency. A mob marched to the KAAC chief’s ancestral residence and set it on fire. Ronghang said that his elderly father, who usually stays at the house, had stepped out at the time of the attack and was unharmed. He added that only security personnel were present when the house was torched. Visuals of the damaged residence later surfaced on social media.

Officials said the agitation intensified after nine protesters, including a youth leader, were picked up by authorities from the site of an indefinite hunger strike in Kheroni. The hunger strike, which entered its 16th day on Monday, is demanding the eviction of alleged illegal settlers from Village Grazing Reserves (VGRs) and Professional Grazing Reserves (PGRs). Authorities clarified that the protesters were shifted to hospital after their health deteriorated, but rumours of their detention triggered widespread anger and mobilisation.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said misinformation about the protesters’ detention fuelled the violence. He stressed that eviction drives could not proceed while court orders were in place, noting that some eviction efforts launched in 2024 were halted after affected residents approached the Gauhati High Court. “Violence will only complicate dialogue,” Sarma said, adding that the government remained open to discussions and would take up the issue with higher authorities.

The agitation centres on the alleged encroachment of nearly 7,184.7 acres of protected grazing land in Karbi Anglong. Protesters argue that under Sixth Schedule provisions, land ownership by non-protected communities is prohibited, and claim that outsiders have illegally occupied large tracts of land.

In response to the violence, district administrations invoked prohibitory restrictions under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. The orders ban the assembly of five or more people, rallies, processions and public meetings, restrict inflammatory speeches and the use of loudspeakers without permission, and prohibit the carrying of firearms or explosives. Movement of individuals and private vehicles has also been restricted from 5 pm to 6 am, with exemptions for essential and emergency services.

Assam Director General of Police Harmeet Singh reached Karbi Anglong to review the situation, while Education Minister Ranoj Pegu was scheduled to visit the district to engage with protesters, the chief minister said. Authorities said security had been tightened to prevent further escalation and restore normalcy.