Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS), a human rights organisation active in Assam was founded on 2 November 1991, as a response to brutal state repression and army operations against the political movement for self-determination in the state. The organisation was founded by progressive journalists, lawyers, grassroot activists, and other conscious citizens. Due to the heightened acts of violence perpetrated by the state and non-state actors who were tacitly used in counterinsurgency operations, MASS members had to organise various activities to highlight cases of human rights violations.