Why Assam’s lawyers are fasting as a new High Court rises across the Brahmaputra

On the quiet stretch by Dighalipukhuri, where the Gauhati High Court has stood for decades as the judicial heartbeat of the Northeast, a different kind of protest has taken shape. Beginning January 8, members of the Gauhati High Court Bar Association (GHCBA) commenced a three-day hunger strike, marking a decisive escalation in their opposition to the state government’s plan to shift the principal seat of the High Court to North Guwahati.

The protest, held from 10 am to 4 pm each day in front of the old High Court building at Uzan Bazar, is not merely about bricks and mortar. It is about legacy, consultation, and the relationship between those who practise the law and those who govern its institutions.

Led by GHCBA president K N Choudhury, the agitation follows a resolution adopted at an emergent extraordinary general meeting of the Bar Association earlier this week. The lawyers’ decision to fast rather than shout slogans or disrupt proceedings reflects a calculated and symbolic stand against what they describe as a unilateral decision taken without adequate consultation with the legal fraternity.

For generations, the Gauhati High Court has been more than a judicial structure. From its historic location near Dighalipukhuri, it has served as the common High Court for four Northeastern states, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram, with permanent benches in Kohima, Itanagar and Aizawl. As new states were carved out of Assam, the court’s jurisdiction expanded, binding the region’s legal destiny firmly to Guwahati.

It is this deeply rooted institutional continuity that now finds itself at a crossroads.

The Assam government plans to construct a new High Court complex as part of an expansive judicial township at Rangmahal, on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra. Spread across 129 bighas over 42.5 acres, the project has been positioned as a landmark in judicial infrastructure for the Northeast. In November last year, the Assam cabinet approved Rs 479 crore for the first phase of construction.

The Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant, is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of the project on January 11 at Rangmahal, Amingaon. The ceremony is expected to be attended by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, underscoring the project’s national and political significance.

The state government has justified the relocation as part of a broader vision to develop the Brahmaputra riverfront, arguing that the existing High Court land at Uzan Bazar is integral to the riverfront development plan.

Yet, even as preparations are underway for a ceremonial milestone, the Bar Association has chosen absence over applause. In a pointed move, the GHCBA has resolved to boycott the foundation stone–laying ceremony and has directed all advocates to stay away from the event.

Adding weight to the protest, the hunger strike has been scheduled for January 8, 9 and 11—the final day coinciding with the foundation stone ceremony itself. While dignitaries gather across the river to mark the beginning of a new judicial complex, lawyers will sit in silent protest at the old High Court gates, creating a stark visual contrast between celebration and dissent.

The advocate community in Assam has been opposing the proposed relocation for nearly two years, consistently citing the lack of structured consultation with legal professionals. According to the Bar Association, the decision to shift the court affects not only lawyers but also litigants, access to justice, and the functioning of an institution that serves multiple states.

The movement has steadily gained momentum, drawing support from civil society groups and bar associations across Assam, signalling that the resistance is neither isolated nor fleeting.