A group of 100 lawyers and legal professionals from across India has issued a powerful appeal to the President of India, the Governor of Chhattisgarh, and the Chief Minister, demanding the immediate revocation of the ban on Moolvasi Bachao Manch (MBM), a grassroots Adivasi rights group. The appeal also calls for the release of all its jailed members and the repeal of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005 (CSPSA), which the collective terms “draconian” and unconstitutional.
The appeal, issued by the National Alliance for Justice, Accountability and Rights (NAJAR), denounces the October 2024 declaration of MBM as an “unlawful organization” under the CSPSA. According to NAJAR, this ban is an attack on the right to freedom of association and reflects an alarming trend of criminalizing peaceful, constitutionally protected activities by Adivasi communities in Scheduled Areas.
The legal professionals’ concerns stem from the May 3, 2025 re-arrest of MBM members Suneeta Pottam and Dasru Podiyam by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), despite their prior judicial custody in unrelated cases. Both were remanded to five days of interrogation under a 2023 UAPA case before being returned to custody. This same case had earlier led to the arrest of MBM’s former president, Raghu Midiyami, and implicated members Gajendra Madavi and Laxman Kunjam.
NAJAR asserts that these arrests are part of a concerted strategy to incarcerate individuals merely for their past association with MBM, which had dissolved after the ban. MBM was founded in 2021 in the wake of the Silger firing—when security forces killed four Adivasis protesting the construction of paramilitary camps. From its inception, MBM operated openly, using petitions, public meetings, padyatras, and sit-ins to advocate for forest and land rights, Gram Sabha consent, and justice for state violence, relying on constitutional frameworks like PESA, FRA, and the Fifth Schedule.
The lawyers contend that at least 30 MBM members have been arrested in false cases. The first enforcement of the ban reportedly occurred in November 2024, when two members were detained simply for organizing a village meeting—without any allegations of incitement or violence. Even after MBM’s dissolution, its former members continue to face harassment and arrest, based only on their prior association.
The appeal highlights the case of Suneeta Pottam, a prominent activist who has been active in campaigns against displacement and militarization in Bastar. She has worked with organizations like Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) and the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), and was acquitted in 9 out of 12 previous cases. Her release was reportedly obstructed by a new arrest under the UAPA. Dasru Podiyam, a young organizer from Bijapur, faces a similar fate, leading to fears that former MBM members are being deliberately targeted through prolonged legal harassment.
According to NAJAR, this crackdown coincides with increasing public outrage over custodial torture, extrajudicial killings, and rampant militarization in Bastar. They argue that the ban is being used to shield these actions from scrutiny by delegitimizing Adivasi dissent as anti-national.
The government’s rationale for the ban—alleging MBM was instigating people against “development works”—was strongly refuted. The signatories argue that MBM’s resistance to road and security camp construction was grounded in legally recognized rights under the Constitution, PESA, and FRA, which require prior Gram Sabha consent for development projects in Scheduled Areas. They point out that adivasi communities, who have traditionally protected forests, are now being dispossessed in the name of development, violating human rights and contributing to ecological damage.
The lawyers emphasized that the CSPSA allows the state to outlaw organizations without requiring any proof of violent activity, lacks judicial oversight, and criminalizes mere association—making it incompatible with constitutional democracy.
Among the prominent signatories to the letter are Senior Advocate Gayatri Singh (Bombay High Court), Advocate Indira Unninayar (Supreme Court and Delhi High Court), Advocate Purbayan Chakraborty (West Bengal), Advocate Mini Mathew (Mumbai/Goa), Advocate Ritesh Dhar Dubey (New Delhi), Advocate Afsar Jahan (Telangana High Court), Advocate Vertika Mani (New Delhi), Advocate Rohin Bhatt (Delhi), and Advocate Dr. Shalu Nigam (Delhi NCR)
The letter concludes with five demands to the authorities: revoke the ban on MBM, release all its imprisoned members, repeal the CSPSA, stop the criminalization of Adivasi protests, and end all surveillance and harassment of former MBM members.
Calling this a test of constitutional fidelity, the signatories urged immediate action to restore the rule of law and protect the democratic rights of Adivasi communities in Bastar and across India’s Scheduled Areas.
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