PUDR demands the immediate release of Kartik Naik, a prominent leader of the Maa Maati Maali Surakhya Manch resisting the setting up of a bauxite mine in the Sijimali/ Tijmali hills in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts of Odisha by M/S Vedanta Ltd. Kartik Naik was arrested on 19 September 2024 under an older FIR registered on 12 January 2024 at the behest of Mythri company, affiliated to M/S Vedanta Ltd., under Sections 147, 148, 341, 323, 324, 307, 427, 395, 506, 149 IPC. These offences relate, among other things, to offences of unlawful assembly, causing grievous hurt and attempt to murder, arising out of protests by affected communities against the bauxite mine. Although Kartik Naik is the sole person to have been arrested on 19 September 2024, the Judicial Magistrate First Class of Kashipur block issued non-bailable warrants for arrest of ten other persons on 29 August 2024. This marks the initiation of a second round of criminal persecution of the people of Rayagada and Kalahandi in relation to the bauxite mine, following a previous crackdown in August-September 2023 wherein more than 20 persons from affected villages were arrested, and an FIR under the UAPA filed against prominent leaders of the movement. All of them have since been released on bail. However, multiple FIRs have been registered in this duration implicating about a hundred persons for resisting the mine, including forty persons in the 12 January FIR alone.
In March 2023, the Odisha government issued a fifty-year mining lease to M/S Vedanta Ltd. for the extraction of bauxite from an area spreading across 1549 hectares in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts of Odisha, including 699 hectares of forest land. Concerns have been raised, both by affected communities and independent reports, on the environmental and human rights impact of the bauxite mine in the dense deciduous forests of the area, which are home to several water bodies, and pristine forests considered to be the homes of local deities. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report submitted under the statutory mandate grossly underestimates, and even distorts, the magnitude of environmental and human rights violations potentially arising out of the bauxite mine.
Both Rayagada and Kalahandi are Fifth Schedule areas, where the Constitution, along with the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) and Forest Rights Act (FRA), recognizes the right of gram sabhas to autonomy over their customary lands and forests. This right has been upheld by the Supreme Court repeatedly, most notably in the 1997 decision of the Supreme Court in Samatha v. State of Andhra Pradesh, holding that the alienation of lands to non-adivasis is prohibited in Scheduled Areas, including government and private entities. Also in 2013, in the Niyamgiri judgment pertaining to the setting up of a bauxite mine in the adjoining villages again by M/S Vedanta Ltd., the Supreme Court upheld the right of gram sabhas to manage and conserve their customary lands and forests, mandating their right to free, prior and informed consent.
Both the rounds of persecution, in 2023 and now a year later, in 2024, clearly demonstrate the intent of the Odisha government to undermine these constitutionally and statutorily protected rights of adivasis in Scheduled Areas to their rights, to illegally obtain clearances for the proposed bauxite mine. While in 2023 these arrests were undertaken on the eve of public hearings with affected communities mandated under the Environmental Protection Act, the current spate of persecution has been unleashed on the eve of gram sabha consent proceedings under the FRA.
It is pertinent to note that in December 2023, the district administration had submitted fabricated gram sabha resolutions from ten villages, ostensibly granting their consent towards the establishment of the bauxite mine. For several months, those affected by these fabricated resolutions appealed to different authorities to conduct these gram sabha proceedings afresh as per law, which was finally conducted between 30 August and 04 September 2024. As per these resolutions, all gram sabhas unanimously rejected the setting up of the bauxite mine, refused consent for the diversion of forest land for mining purposes, and also assertively demanded criminal action to be taken against governmental and private actors who were responsible for the conduct of the fake gram sabha proceedings in December last year. The fact that the issue of the non-bailable warrants for arrest, and Kartik Naik’s actual arrest, co-incide with the act of gram sabhas asserting their rights and demanding action against wrong-doers, leads to a strong suspicion that these are meant to intimidate and persecute affected communities to pave the way for the bauxite mine.
PUDR demands:
- Immediate release of Kartik Naik, and withdrawal of all FIRs filed against people of Rayagada and Kalahandi since August 2023 up to date.
- Rejecting approvals to the Sijimali bauxite mine in keeping with the gram sabha resolutions of affected villages.
- Criminal action against governmental and private actors involved in fabricating gram sabha resolutions and the persecution of affected villages to obtain approvals for the bauxite mine.
Joseph Mathai
Paramjeet Singh
(Secretaries PUDR)
