Lathis, axes Odisha adivasis traditionally carry cited for 'applying' anti-terror law UAPA

Counterview Desk
Hundreds of activists, citizens and people’s organizations from across the country have expressed at the “outrageous” imposition of the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) cases against nine adivasis and activists of the Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti (NSS), which spearheaded the struggle against bauxite mining by Vedanta Company, in the ecologically bio-diverse Kalahandi and Rayagada regions of Odisha.
In an open letter to Naveen Patnaik, chief minister of Odisha, they have asked him to immediately “quashing of the fabricated FIR filed under UAPA and other serious provisions of IPC against adivasi leaders and supporters of NSS, an end to arbitrary abductions and repression of adivasis, as well as corporate-enabled loot of natural resources in Odisha.”
The letter to the CM states, “We have perused through the FIR and are aghast to note the cavalier and ill-motivated manner in which allegations have been levelled against the aforesaid 9 persons. For instance, lathis and axe which many Dongria Kondh adivasis traditionally carry, are being cited as a ground for filing this FIR under UAPA!”

Text:

We the undersigned, on behalf of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) and numerous democratic organizations as well as concerned citizens from across India and beyond, are outraged at the recent developments in Odisha, which has resulted in arbitrary abductions, arrests as well as filing cases against 9 leaders of the Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti (NSS) and its supporters, under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Action (UAPA) and other stringent provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
The Statement by Odisha activists Lingaraj Azad, Prafulla Samantara, Narendra Mohanty and Biswapriya Kanungo, read with the PUDR statement and Statement by Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) describe in detail the disturbing circumstances, in which these charges have been foisted, through FIR 87/2023, dated 6th August. Those charged include Lada Sikaka and Drenju Krushka (leaders of NSS), Manu Sikaka and Samba Huika (youth leaders of NSS), Lingaraj Azad, (Advisor of NSS), British Kumar (Khandualamali Surakhya Samiti), Lenin Kumar (poet and solidarity activist), Gobinda Bag (villager associated with NSS) and Upendra Bag (member spokesperson of NSS). Of them, Upendra was kept in police custody for 4 days and later lodged at Rayagada Jail on 14th August, on the eve of ‘independence’ day! Reportedly, he was threatened, hit and slapped multiple times, during detention.
We have perused through the FIR and are aghast to note the cavalier and ill-motivated manner in which allegations have been levelled against the aforesaid 9 persons. For instance, lathis and axe which many Dongria Kondh adivasis traditionally carry, are being cited as a ground for filing this FIR under UAPA! Likewise, imputations linking the NSS to ‘left wing extremism’ are completely unfounded. We condemn this abuse of process of law and brazen attack on the right of the democratic movement to peaceful resistance.
We have been noticing with concern the developments since 5th August, when two youth leaders of the NSS (Krushna Sikaka, village Patangpadar and Bari Sikaka, village Lakhpadar) mysteriously ‘went missing’. They were reportedly abducted by plainclothes policemen from Lanjigarh, where they had come to interact with people regarding the upcoming Indigenous People’s Day on 9th August. Despite multiple requests, even senior police authorities denied any information of their whereabouts. Apparently, instead of addressing their concerns, the adivasi people were mocked at by some police during the protest. Further, when the police tried to take into custody Drenju Krisika, leader of NSS, the same was thwarted by people’s unity.
Subsequent to mass protests before the Kalyansinghpur police station on 6th Aug, and a writ petition filed in the High Court, Bari Sikaka was ‘returned’ by the police, but Krushna was shown as ‘accused’ in a 5 years old rape case. It baffles us as to why has Krushna been suddenly picked up in Aug, 2023, if the FIR was filed way back in 2018, and he has all along been in the public domain, participating in open meetings. It is learnt that sometime in July, another local person Bali Karkaria (Denguni village) was also allegedly abducted in similar circumstances on unsubstantiated charges and lodged in a jail.
We are aghast at the suspicious ways in which adivasi leaders, especially youth, are being abducted by police, kept in long periods of detention in violation of law, and some of them are shown as ‘arrested’ after many days! It is learnt that there have been midnight police raids at 3 villages in Kashipur block of Rayagada district on the 13th and 16th Aug, after which several adivasi youth are reported ‘missing’. All of this shows the state government in a very poor light.

The historic struggle of Dongria Kondh Niyamgiri adivasis against bauxite mining in the ecologically bio-diverse Kalahandi and Rayagada regions, by Vedanta Company is known world-over. Even the Hon’ble Supreme Court upheld the rights of the adivasi Gram Sabhas in its landmark judgement of 18th April, 2013. Despite this the state government has not only watched over, but also enabled excesses by corporations like Vedanta, while militarizing the adivasi regions. We are furious that a repressive law like UAPA is being used to clamp down on the movement, thus also violating the spirit of the verdict of the Apex Court. In the light of this appalling situation, we demand, the Odisha government to immediately:
Drop all the charges and quash FIR against the adivasi leaders, activists and supporters of the Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti, filed under UAPA and IPC.
Make public the whereabouts of all persons detained / arrested, during the month of August and details of pending cases against them.
Uphold the democratic rights of the people of Niyamgiri and all movements in Odisha to peaceful resistance and stop the spree of abductions and arrests, as well as, corporate-enabled violence and militarization in adivasi areas.
Institute a fair inquiry into the questionable FIR against Krushna Sikaka in 2018 and release him from jail, pending the inquiry. RELEASE Upendra Bag from jail as well immediately.
Refrain from undertaking / permitting any mining related activities or arbitrary action, including under the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2023 in violation of the rights of Gram Sabhas under the V Schedules of the Constitution, FRA, 2006; PESA Act, 1996 and Judgement of Supreme Court dt. 18th April, 2013.
Sir, even a decade after the judgment of the Apex Court, it is deeply painful to note that the adivasis of Niyamgiri have to keep fighting, for securing their forests and mountains from corporate plunder. The Odisha Govt, has a mandate to work for its ordinary people, not for the profiteering of mega corporations. We hope you will show true statesmanship in putting an end to this persecution of adivasi mulvasi communities, fighting for their jal, jangal, zameen and grassroots sovereignty.
---
Click here for signatories, here for endorsing organisations and activists

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Search This Blog