Odisha: Odisha police have arrested a doctor who works with Adivasi communities and a Dalit leader of an anti-mining platform. Police say the two incited villagers to attack security personnel during a mining protest six months ago. Rights groups call the arrests an attempt to crush resistance to bauxite mining.
Police in Odisha have arrested Dr Randall Sequeira, a doctor who has worked with Adivasi communities in remote parts of the state, and Laxman Naik, a Dalit leader, in a case linked to a clash in Rayagada district in April. Rights organisations have condemned the arrests as an attempt to silence the movement against bauxite mining in the Sijimali and Kutrumali hills.
According to Press Trust of India (PTI), the two were picked up from their homes in Kalahandi district on the night of Friday, October 16. They have been charged with attempt to murder and rioting and booked under the Arms Act, a senior police officer said.
Police say duo incited villagers
South Western Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Akhileshvar Singh rejected the allegation that the arrests were aimed at foiling protests. Police claim Sequeira and Naik instigated tribal residents to attack security personnel in Kantamal village during a protest against mining activities in April.
Neither was named in the First Information Report (FIR), but another officer told PTI their alleged involvement emerged during subsequent investigation.
Singh told PTI on Tuesday, October 20, that the two were not innocent. “Dr Randall Sequeira was not providing medical services to the people but was engaged in instigating tribals against the state government,” he said, adding that Naik was also “misleading people”. He said many doctors work in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts, but only Sequeira has been arrested.
Asked about alleged torture in custody, the DIG said the two had made no such allegations before the magistrate.
Civil society groups condemn arrests
The Concerned Citizens Committee, Odisha, condemned the arrests and alleged they were meant to foil the tribals’ fight for their rights over water, forest and land, or “Jal, Jangal and Jameen”. The group said Naik is a leading Dalit activist of the Maa Mati Mali Surakhya Manch and the Samajwadi Jan Parishad. It said Sequeira works with Adivasi communities in Kalahandi and Rayagada.
The group alleged that state repression has been going on against tribal and Dalit communities protecting their land, forest and water, and that anti-mining activists backing people’s movements are being arrested. It urged democratic and progressive organisations to demand withdrawal of all criminal cases against those fighting for the people.
HRF demands immediate release
In a statement issued on Monday, October 19, the Human Rights Forum (HRF) demanded the immediate release of both men and withdrawal of the cases against them. The statement was signed by S Jeevan Kumar and VS Krishna, members of the HRF Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Coordination Committee.
HRF said Sequeira is a member of the Medico Friend Circle who has spent years providing healthcare to Adivasis in remote areas. It said the two were detained at night “without basic legal safeguards” and are now booked under grave charges that also include dacoity. The forum said invoking such provisions against people linked to an anti-mining movement raises serious questions about the use of criminal law to silence dissent.
The forum called Sequeira’s arrest particularly disturbing and said it sends a message to those who stand in solidarity with Adivasis and Dalits and document their difficulties that they too risk the coercive power of the State.
Pattern of arrests alleged
HRF said the arrests are part of a wider pattern of repression of the movement opposing the leasing of the Sijimali and Kutrumali hills to Vedanta Ltd and the Adani Group’s Mundra Aluminium Ltd for bauxite mining. It said scores of Adivasis, Dalits and others in the movement have faced repeated arrests, serious charges and prolonged incarceration.
The forum cited Lada Sikaka, an Adivasi leader implicated in around 15 cases, and Lingaraj Azad, who it said has been implicated in multiple cases despite not being named in the original FIRs. It said Hiramal Nayak was arrested again after spending six months in jail.
HRF said filing fresh cases and making further arrests after activists secure bail turns criminal proceedings into an instrument of prolonged punishment, exhausting local people and disrupting their organisation. It said the constitutional protections for Adivasis cannot be subordinated to the commercial priorities of mining companies.
The forum also demanded the release of all other activists and villagers jailed for taking part in the struggle and an end to what it called the criminalisation of the anti-bauxite movement.
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