Skip to main content

Youngest of 16 activists jailed for sedition, Mahesh Raut 'fought' mining on tribal land

By Surabhi Agarwal, Sandeep Pandey*
A compassionate human being, always popular among his friends and colleagues because of his friendly nature and human sensitivity, 33-year-old Mahesh Raut, champion of the democratic rights of the marginalised Adivasi people of Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, has been in prison for over two years now.
He was arrested in connection with the violence on the occasion of commemoration of the victory of Dalit community of Mahars over the upper caste Peshwas in 1818 at Bhima Koregaon held on January 1, 2018. He has been falsely accused of inciting violence and of having links to Maoists. He is youngest among the 16 activists who have arrested in this case so far.
Why should we care about this case? Because Mahesh is fighting for our right to free speech and democratic expression of dissent. In his case, and equally for us, that means the right to hold views and opinions against perceived injustices. We would think there should be nothing wrong with that. We would want such a protection to be in place for everybody. The current government disagrees. They do not want Mahesh to speak up in support of the people of Gadchiroli.
Mahesh was forced out of action so that any residual impedance against daylight robbery by big mining companies could be removed. These companies continue to exploit valuable minerals in the tribal areas where he helped people organise and stand up peacefully for their collective rights. How can speaking up and organising be a crime? We, the people through our constitution have mandated the government to protect such rights in Article 19 (a), (b) and (c) as fundamental rights.
Mahesh was about to use the judicial system to file a petition to help our fellow citizens from having their lands mined against their will. Our government, however, does not like the judicial system to be used when it is against their corporate overlords. There are now half a dozen corporate mining giants ravaging the natural environment of the region.
How much of the Rs 4,745 crore of the taxed revenue from mining companies in Gadchiroli in 2019-20 is being transferred to the locals? The per capita monthly 2017-18 income here was a mere Rs 7,144. Mahesh was simply fighting for a more equitable economy essentially. It is no surprise that after his arrest 300 Gram Sabhas passed a resolution in his support.
It demonstrates the support he has in the area because of his work related to implementation of Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act and other programmes and schemes of the government in the interest of tribals.
For example, because of his efforts exploitation of tribals at the hands of middlemen engaged in tendu leaves collection work had stopped to some extent. Overall there was a general feeling of empowerment among tribals due to his work. In any other government, he would have been rewarded for his work.
The police filed a 20,000 page chargesheet against Mahesh. 
They dusted off their standard operating procedure which was to throw at him everything they could think of -- Sections 34, 121, 124A, 153, 121A, 117, 120B and 505(1)(b) of the Indian Penal Code (Section 124A, “sedition", a British era archaism, is a perennial authoritarian government move. 
Mahesh is masters from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and has been a fellow of Prime Minister Rural Development Programme
But Mahesh is on hallowed ground here with the likes of Tilak, Gandhi and others against whom the same section was invoked by the imperial government). The government has kept him jailed under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act -- one of India's several notoriously draconian laws and the government’s favourite go-to bogeyman which makes it impossible to obtain bail. 
Mahesh’s passport had been confiscated well before 2018 and his family is grounded in Maharashtra. In court, it was highlighted that Mahesh possesses a masters degree from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and has been a fellow of the Prime Minister Rural Development Programme  (PMRDF) for two years when he worked closely with government officials in Gadchiroli. That he is inside jail during a raging pandemic and that he has a debilitating medical condition, acute ulcerative colitis. 
The court still denied him his freedom, citing additional inability under Section 43D(5) of the UAPA and in rejecting his bail said - among other criminal things that he was accused of - that Mahesh was part of an organisation engaged in "managing affairs of funds, recruitments and deciding policies, which were anti-government...”
Seventy nine of his PMRDF colleagues and former rural development minister Jairam Ramesh have signed a statement in Mahesh’s support and have asked for his immediate and unconditional release. The hasty police action against Mahesh has been described in the statement as state government’s response to increasing exertion of oppressed class against sustained caste atrocities in the state.
One may or may not agree with Mahesh or his positions. Yet,, the fact is, the right to free speech is only meaningful when the government protects the right of people to say things that others or the government itself does not agree with. What’s the point of the right to free speech (and peaceably assembling and organising) if the government only protects those whose opinions everyone and the government agrees with?
Mahesh has chosen to dedicate his life towards improving the lives of the dispossessed people of the Gadchiroli region -- arguing for their betterment by standing up to powerful unjust forces. Any one of us could be in a situation where we might want to state an unpopular opinion against the government or against a powerful company. 
Imagine if we were hauled off to jail, accused of evidence-free crimes and subjected to a law whose existence turns the principle of the presumption of innocence on its head (guilty until proved innocent), and no one spoke up for us. 
We have to protect individuals like Mahesh to protect civil liberties of people in this country. We have to tell the government that they cannot ride roughshod over people’s rights. Mahesh Raut needs to be released now and all charges against him be dropped.
---
*Associated with Socialist Party (India)

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.