ITANAGAR, 4 Aug: Over 60 organisations, trade unions and democratic rights groups have condemned the invocation of the National Security Act (NSA) on indigenous rights activist Pranab Doley, and demanded his immediate release along with all other arrested in connection with the ongoing land struggle in Kaziranga, Assam.

In a joint press statement, the organisations stated that the arrest and criminalisation of Doley and other Adivasi and indigenous defenders in the criminal case filed by the Assam Police is an attempt to punish and vilify the activists for exercising their constitutional right to protest, and to silence their voices.

Doley, convener of the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee (GKLHRPC), was arrested on 12 July in connection with a case filed by the Assam Police at the Bokakhat police station under numerous sections of the BNS. The case was registered in retaliation to a protest held on 28 June against the proposed Hyatt luxury resort project at Inglay Pathar near the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve.

Four other activists – Amit Nag, Brijit Kutum, Bhaskar Saikia and Rajib Pegu – were also arrested in connection with the same case, while several others have been falsely implicated and face the threat of arrest.

The NSA detention order was served on Doley’s family only on 31 July in the afternoon, while the bail formalities were being completed pursuant to the signed bail order copy being made available the same morning, with a view to get Doley released on bail.

“This action of the government to use the draconian NSA against Doley to prevent his release is highly condemnable, a blatant attempt to circumvent the process of law,” they said.

Stating that that defending land and environment is not a threat to national security, the organisations said: “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. Farmers defending agricultural land are not threats to national security.

Environmental defenders questioning projects near Kaziranga are not threats to public order. Peaceful dissent, democratic mobilisation and solidarity with affected communities are constitutional rights, not crimes. These rights are essential in a democracy and fundamental to an active citizenry,” the statement said.

It said: “Indeed, what threatens democracy is precisely the opposite – the use of extraordinary state power to prevent citizens from exercising their legitimate right to raise questions on decisions concerning their own lands and their collective futures.”

“We collectively urge the state to put an end to the criminalisation of communities defending their land, livelihoods and environment, and to respect and protect their right to autonomy over their lands, as guaranteed under the Indian Constitution,” the statement said.

They said Doley’s arrest and subsequent incarceration under the NSA is directly linked to the land and environmental struggles in which he has been involved.

Doley and the GKLHRPC have stood with the local communities in raising questions of land rights, displacement, ecological destruction and the future of communities living around one of India’s most ecologically sensitive landscapes.

The organisations stated that for several years, indigenous and Adivasi communities around Kaziranga have opposed the transfer of their lands for commercial and tourism projects, including Hyatt’s proposed luxury resort at Inglay Pathar/Hathikuli, frequented by elephants. Inglay Pathar, the proposed site of the hotel project, is situated near the Kohora (central) range of the Kaziranga National Park. It serves as an important habitat and movement corridor for elephants and is locally revered as a ‘playground for elephants’.

The organisations sought an independent investigation into the allegations of police excesses, procedural violations and the criminalisation of communities opposing the Kaziranga luxury resort project and strict criminal action against the erring officers, and full disclosure and transparent review of land allotments and the proposed tourism and infrastructure projects around Kaziranga, with meaningful participation of affected communities and full protection of their constitutional and legal rights.

They further demanded protection of indigenous, Adivasi, peasant and forest-dwelling communities across Assam from forced displacement and corporate appropriation of their lands, forests and commons.

Additionally, they demanded immediate end to the use of preventive detention and extraordinary laws to suppress democratic movements, environmental defenders and indigenous and land rights activists.

“The Assam government must understand that a judicial order granting liberty cannot be subverted in this fashion with preventive detention. The Constitution cannot be suspended whenever citizens challenge the government’s model of development,”they said.

The organisations called upon all citizens and civil society groups across India to stand with Doley and the communities of Kaziranga.

Several UN experts, including the Working Group on Issues of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, the special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, the special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, in their statement, also communicated to the government, expressed concern over their arrest and detention, and called for their immediate release, the statement added.

The organisations which endorsed the press statement included the Adivasi Adhikar Manch, Udaipur, Adivasi Samajonnati Seva Sanstha, Saphale, Maharashtra, North East Human Rights, People for Himalaya, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, All India Feminist Alliance, All India Inquilabi Youth and Students Alliance, Association for Protection of Civil Rights, Basti Suraksha Manch, Campaign to Defend Nature and People, Campaign for Survival with Dignity, Odisha, Chennai Wetlands Action Collective, Civil Society Women’s Organisation, Meghalaya, Chasi Mulia Sangha, Odisha, Chasi Mulia Suraksha Samiti, Kandhamal, Chhatisgarh Bachao Andolan, Climate Front India, Dibang Resistance, Arunachal Pradesh, Fridays for Future, India, Friends of the Earth – India,  Human Rights Defenders Alert, India, Indian Social Action Forum, Indigenous Research and Advocacy Arunachal Pradesh, Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan, Joint Action against Custodial Torture, Tamil Nadu, Justice in Mining Network, Karavali Karnataka Janabhivriddhi Vedike, Kashtakari Sangathana, Dahanu, Maharashtra, Khandual Mali Sthayi Suraksha Samiti, Kalahandi, Lokshakti Abhiyan, Odisha, National Alliance for Climate and Ecological Justice, National Alliance for Justice, Accountability and Rights, National Alliance of People’s Movements, National Federation of Small-scale Fishworkers, New Trade Union Initiative, Rajasthan Asangathith Mazdoor Union, SAMATA, Sarvahara Jan Andolan, Saurashtra Dalit Sangathan, Junagadh, Save Dol ka badh Andolan, Shoshit Jan Andolan, South Asia Just Transition Alliance India, Students and Youth Collective, Ahmedabad, There is No Earth B, Wangad Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, and others.