Two women tribal leaders "go missing" in Uttar Pradesh for a month: Police claims they were released on June 8

Sukalo Gond

By A Representative

Two Uttar Pradesh forest rights leaders belonging to the All-India Union of Forest Working Peoples (AIUFWP) Sukalo Gond and Kismatiya Gond have reportedly gone "untraceable" even though the state government claims both were released over a month ago. Belonging to the Sonbhadra district, the police couldn't "trace" them and produce them before the Allahabad High Court at the second hearing of a Habeas Corpus petition on July 9.
Revealing this, a human rights site, Sabrang India, run by well-known rights leader Teesta Setalvad, reports that the state government said in the court the police gave the two women a challan under Section 151 police and were released soon after. "However", it adds, "It appears that at first the government made efforts to get the hearing postponed, but when the lawyers for the petitioners expressed their concern for the life and safety of the two women, it finally made a shocking disclosure ‘On Oral Instructions'."
"No details for the 151 challan were provided, nor the details of their ostensible release shared", the report quotes advocate Farman Naqvi, appearing for both the two women, as saying. The lawyer demanded in the court that their release should be put on an affidavit, as "they are not traceable for over a month after their clandestine arrests on June 8."
Section 151 is a common offence imposed on peaceful protesters. It relates to continued assembly of five or more persons after orders for their dispersal have been given. Setalvad's NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and AIUFWP moved the court seeking the "immediate production and release of illegally detained" adivasi women leaders Sukalo and Kismatiya.
While Sukalo is treasurer of AIUFWP, and Kismatiya is secretary of a local Forest Rights Committee. The two, says the report, were arrested in a "clandestine manner" from Chopan station, Sonbhadra district, just as they were returning after a meeting state forest minister, Dara Singh Chauhan, and the forest secretary in Lucknow on June 8.
The report says, adivasi women of Sonbhadra who are a part of a "peaceful struggle for land rights, and are being "systematically bullied and harassed". Many of them have "fake cases" filed against them on "false or trumped up charges." They have been fighting, with CJP and AIUFWP support, in the demand for implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
Ahead of the arrest, Sukalo was fighting for the land rights of adivasis of Lilasi village. Says the report, "First, on May 18, the UP police picked up and detained adivasis from Lilasi and made them go through harrowing procedures for about a day. Later, on May 22, they entered the village, completely unwarranted and assaulted women and children, in which Kismatiya sustained severe injuries."
As Sukalo constantly campaigned on how the village was turned into a police camp, "bulk FIRs were filed against the villagers on the pretext of an 'afforestation project', the details of which wasn’t known to anybody", the report says, adding, "Even though Sukalo wasn’t present during the episodes of assaults by the police, and her name was nowhere mentioned in FIRs, she was arrested from Chopan station on June 6 in a clandestine manner when she and Kismatiya and were returning after meeting the state forest minister."
The report claims that Sukalo was the main link between these villagers and others outside the area. "These villages are located in the far-off interiors and not even well connected by roads. Mobile phones are scarce. Arresting her is a clear method to intimidate these fierce Adivasi women so that they stop speaking up", it adds.
On AIUFWP and CJP’s intervention, NHRC issued a notice to the district magistrate of Sonbhadra to look into the violent onslaught of UP police and forest department. "However", saus the report, "The feudal nexus of the government, the forest department and big landholders is carrying on its oppressive onslaught with impunity."

Previous arrest

This is not the first time that Sukalo has been arrested. In June 2015, when forest rights movement was gaining momentum in Sonbhadra, the state government "resorted to violence to crush the peaceful protest of people against the Kanhar dam in a brutal and bloodied manner", says the report.
Sukalo has been quoted as saying, “Eighteen rounds were fired right in front of my eyes. It was terrible. They arrested almost all the women leaders, including Rajkumari, immediately. I had no option but to run away, they were arresting every body.”
Arrested in the wee hours of June 30, 2015, along with Roma, AIUFWP leader, they were sent to Mirzapur jail. However, she continued her struggle within the four walls of the prison. She, along with other inmates, wrote multiple letters to authorities and sat for hunger strike to demand basic facilities as well as land rights outside.

Comments

Uma said…

We are fast becoming a fascist country. Goodbye to democracy

July 15, 2018

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD * It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram* In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

The 'glass cliff' at Galgotias: How a university’s AI crisis became a gendered blame game

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan* “She was not aware of the technical origins of the product and in her enthusiasm of being on camera, gave factually incorrect information.” These were the words used in the official press release by Galgotias University following the controversy at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi. The statement came across as defensive, petty, and deeply insensitive.

The Galgotia model: How India is losing the war on knowledge

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Galgotia is the face of 'quality education' as envisioned by those who never considered education a tool for social change or national uplift — and yet this is precisely the model Narendra Modi pursued in Gujarat as Chief Minister. In the mid-eighties, when many of us were growing up, 'Nirma' became one of the most popular advertisements on Doordarshan. Whether the product was any good hardly seemed to matter.

Bangladesh goes to polls as press freedom concerns surface

By Nava Thakuria* As Bangladesh heads for its 13th Parliamentary election and a referendum on the July National Charter simultaneously on Thursday (12 February 2026), interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus has urged all participating candidates to rise above personal and party interests and prioritize the greater interests of the Muslim-majority nation, regardless of the poll outcomes.

Search This Blog