Assam Activist’s Detention Draws Widespread Condemnation
Pranab Doley belongs to the indigenous Mising community of Assam. He has stood at the forefront of socio-political movements to voice the concerns of the extremely poor and marginalised sections of society
Over 60 civil rights groups have condemned the detention of Assam-based environmental and Indigenous rights activist Pranab Doley under the National Security Act, calling it a clear “attempt to punish and vilify activists for exercising their constitutional right to protest.” Doley led protests against a five-star luxury resort proposed to be built within the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site housing the world’s largest population of one-horned rhinoceros.
Doley was detained under the National Security Act (NSA) on July 30, one day after securing bail from a sessions court. The NSA provides for preventive detention to maintain public order. Rights groups have called it a way to “to continue his unjust incarceration.”
Apart from the revocation of the NSA, the groups have demanded an independent investigation into police excesses against protesters, the release of all activists associated with land struggles in Assam, and a full, transparent disclosure of land allotments and tourism projects proposed in the National Park.
The luxury hotel is being developed by a Hyatt-linked company, Juniper Hotels, on land leased to them by the Assam Tourism Development Corporation. The Hyatt Group has since distanced itself from the project. Indigenous tea tribes facing eviction have petitioned the Gauhati High Court alleging the land for the project was forcibly acquired from them.
“Governments cannot be permitted to convert dissent and disagreement over development policy into questions of national security. Adivasi and Indigenous communities asserting their rights over land and for protection of the environment and natural resources, are not enemies of the nation,” the statement by rights groups says.
Doley was arrested on July 12 for “masterminding” a demonstration against the project on June 28, and was accused of attacking police personnel. A sessions court granted him bail on July 29, finding no evidence of violence against police, and on the contrary observing that the notice for his arrest was served belatedly.
“In matters where ecological preservation intersects with indigenous survival, the standard apparatus of criminal law cannot be used to suppress local anxieties. True public order is achieved not by silencing the affected, but by listening to them,” the bail order said. The next day, the Assam government imposed the NSA on Doley, which allows an accused to be held without trial or formal charges for up to 12 months.
The NSA notice claims that Doley violated the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) by engaging in “suspicious foreign transactions.”
“The use of the NSA against Doley is part of a growing pattern of BJP governments weaponising extraordinary laws to silence dissent. Similar attempts have been witnessed in Uttar Pradesh, where the NSA was invoked against labour activists protesting against exploitative working conditions in Noida,” senior Congress leader and former union environment minister Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
Several environmental NGOs have faced FCRA cancellation or suspension for opposing development projects in recent years.
