Gadchiroli: Police Arrest 21 After 'Brutal Crackdown' on 8-Month Adivasi Protest Against Mining

[hatehs]

Gadchiroli: Police Arrest 21 After 'Brutal Crackdown' on 8-Month Adivasi Protest Against Mining​

The movements' leaders had allegedly been surveilled and were beaten up brutally on the day. Several of the protesters' huts were burnt and their belongings taken.

The Todgatta protest site after police action. Photo: By arrangement.

Anjali and Shubha





ENERGY
ENVIRONMENT
GOVERNMENT
RIGHTS
22/NOV/2023

On the morning of November 20, a huge police contingent allegedly surrounded and destroyed the site at Todgatta in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, where protesters from over 70 Adivasi villages had been peacefully agitating against the six proposed and auctioned iron-ore mines in the district’s Surjagarh area for the last eight months.






00:00
PreviousPlayNext


Mute
Fullscreen
Copy video url
Play / Pause
Mute / Unmute
Report a problem
Language
Share
Vidverto Player



ADVERTISEMENT
According to protesters, police singled out all the main leaders of the protest, forcefully searched their belongings, and upturned their bags. Eight of the movement leaders were then forcefully taken away by helicopter and their phones were confiscated. The eight include Mangesh Naroti, Pradeep Hedo, Sai Kawdo, Gillu Kawdo, Laxman Jetti, Mahadu Kawdo, Nikesh Naroti, and Ganesh Korea.

Police also wrecked and burnt huts in the village, tore down their roofs, and seized the belongings of some protesters.
Moreover, in a video from the site that has been shared on social media, police officers are seen using lathis to intimidate people into remaining silent and preventing any video or camera footage from being shot. Protesters from the ground also mentioned that a brutal lathi charge took place and several of them sustained injuries as a result. Some even lost consciousness after sustaining injuries to the head. Besides the eight leaders, around 25 protesters were taken away in the trucks.

The Todgatta protest site after police action. Photo: By arrangement.
The status or whereabouts of those detained were unknown until late on November 20. The Damkondwahi Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, the people’s organisation behind the protest, had said that it suspected that they had been taken to the Gadchiroli district headquarters. It has now been confirmed that the eight leaders as well as the 21 other protesters who were picked up are currently being housed at the Etapalli police station and Section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code has been slapped on all of them.
Protesters have said that police requested and secured an eight-day custody remand for all 21 who had been arrested. They will be jailed in Chandrapur. However, not much else is known about the situation, except accounts from protesters.

The custody remand request filed by the police was also called ‘highly concerning’ by activists, as it claims that the arrested tried to hit and kill the police, had explosives in their possession, and are funded by Maoists – all trumped up, according to the activists.
The remand request says police intend to subject those arrested to intense interrogations in order to “uncover where and how they conspired in the related incident, capture the relevant evidence, expose the support being provided by Maoist organisations, and get information on future behaviour of the accused in connection with their severe crime of planting explosives and associating with Maoist organisations.”
Also read: ’76 Years After Independence, We Still Fight’: In Gadchiroli, a 150-Day Protest Against Mining
Protesters noted that this was a grave human rights violation, and said that they fear for the wellbeing of those arrested and have demanded that they be released immediately.
Justification
The police has justified its actions by claiming, “Maoist-influenced and deceived agitators allegedly stopped the way of security personnel from Gatta along with C-60 teams, a special anti-Maoist commando force of Maharashtra, who were all going towards Wangeturi through Todgatta to inaugurate a police station at Wangeturi on Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border.”
The Gadchiroli police further claimed that some locals had complained to them that they were being forced to sit on the protest by Maoists and that because they were tired of the Maoist led-protest, they themselves removed the huts at the protest site. Police thus claimed that its personnel did not do any vandalism.
However, video and camera footage, in addition to information received from detained protesters and villagers, tell us otherwise.
Furthermore, representatives of the protest in Delhi further stated that the gathering at Todgatta was a peaceful one, to solely protest against the proposed mines and the illegal repression they brought in their wake.

The protest at Todgatta in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli. Photo: By arrangement.
In fact, a 2018 fact-finding report by the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations, which examined state-sponsored oppression in Gadchiroli, noted that the mining company, the local administration and the Central Reserve Police Force in Etapalli all work together, as reported in Scroll.in in September.
It said, “A parallel system was being set up around the red soiled hills of Surjagarh that would wreak havoc in the lives of the locals. Security camps were built and additional battalions of specially trained police and security forces were deployed in the area. All this was done in the name of anti-Naxal operations, as there has been a history of armed resistance in the area.”
“The government is forcefully constructing police stations without taking the permission of gram sabhas,” protesters told NewsLaundry earlier this year in June. “This month they constructed a police station at Peepliburgi and have plans to bring more police stations at Todgatta, Morewada, Gardewada and Jharewada, among others.”
Security forces constantly threaten villagers over their opposition to mining, interrogating them on their whereabouts in the name of fighting Maoists or Naxalites. “This is a form of mental harassment that has been ongoing for decades,” Mangesh Naroti, one of the leaders of the movement, had told Scroll.in.

The Todgatta protest site before police arrived. Photo: By arrangement.
Key protesters who requested anonymity told The Wire that over the past two days, the state had been using drone cameras over the protest site to ensure constant surveillance over the region and peoples’ activities, and therefore, knew the exact movements and names of all of the leaders of the protest.
Movements leaders believe that yesterday’s crackdown was a timed attack after the police learnt that activists like advocate Lalsu Nogoti, along with Sushila Naroti, Rakesh Alam, Poonam Jetti, Vandu Uike, and Sainu Hichami would be travelling to represent their movement at a public meeting and press conference in New Delhi at the Press Club of India. The conference, titled “Anti-Displacement Movement and State Repression” and organised by the Forum Against Corporatisation and Militarisation (FACAM), saw powerful statements from across the country and a detailed booklet outlining the issues of mining and repression, and resistance in Surjagarh was released.
Poonam Jetti, a village Sarpanch, spoke about how any act of questioning mining or police activities leads to being labelled as “Naxal” or “Maoist”.
Advocate Nogoti stated that a peaceful protest is often mis-labelled as “Naxal-sponsored” to hide a nexus of crony capitalism that trickles down to local administration and affects villagers most significantly.
The protest now
The brutal suppression came only a few weeks after the protest and demands at Todgatta were voiced internationally on October 8, 2023 by advocate Nogoti, at the 54th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), at Geneva in Switzerland. Nogoti spoke through a video statement in a General Debate Council Meeting under Agenda Item 9, which covers Durban Declaration and Program of Action.
The six proposed mines spanning 4,684 hectares were recently leased through a composite mining lease to five companies: Omsairam Steels and Alloys Private Limited, JSW Steels Limited, Sunflag Iron and Steel Company Limited, Universal Industrial Equipment and Technical Services Private Limited, and Natural Resources Energy Private Limited. All six mines encroach upon the land already granted to people from surrounding Adivasi villages as part of their community forest rights land under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. According to a local study, at least 40,900 people will be displaced if these mines come into existence.
Since March 11, 2023, villagers from across the Surjagad and Damkondwahi pattis/ilakas (areas) have been indefinitely protesting under the banners of the “Damkondawahi Bachao Sangharsh Samiti” and “Surjagarh Patti Paramparik Gotul Samiti”. The protest is being led by the Madia-Gond Adivasi community, one of the three Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) from the state. Representatives from over 70 villages have been taking turns to occupy a stretch of land in Todgatta, thereby making the resistance viable for the long term.

The red waters of Todgatta. Photo: By arrangement.
Along with huge intergenerational and cross-regional impacts on an entire way of life, knowledge systems, and illegal dispossession of jal, jangal, zameen, there are also many health related impacts of the mines that people are protesting against.
Impact of the iron-ore mines
The Lloyd’s iron-ore mine has had a tremendous impact on agriculture, the ecosystem, and the health of Surjagarh’s residents. The region is polluted by red iron oxide discharge, chemical effluents, and large amounts of debris. The fresh water in the region has turned red and is unusable and agricultural fields are overrun by silt. An Adivasi farmer, Ajay Toppo, died by suicide in 2022, after what many believe was prolonged suffering he underwent due to the changes in his farmland.
People have been known to suffer from various diseases such as catharsis, dehydration and gastro-intestinal irritation. Locals say iron ore can interfere with normal body fluid regulation even long after a mine has been closed. According to a report on the hazardous effects of iron oxide on human health, exposure to iron oxide fumes and iron ore dust can cause metal fume fever, which is a flu-like illness with symptoms of metallic taste, fever and chills, aches, chest tightness and cough. Moreover, prolonged or repeated contact can discolour the eyes causing permanent Iron staining. Repeated exposure to iron oxide fumes or dust could also cause pneumoconiosis (siderosis) with cough and shortness of breath. People have reported that the iron contamination has also affected the health of animals and livestock, and has therefore, severely impacted livelihood and income.
Anjali is a cultural activist learning with indigenous people’s movements and a part of Yugma Collective. Shubha is a member of Yugma Collective and is currently studying the legal aspects of forest-based movements

Gadchiroli: Police Arrest 21 After 'Brutal Crackdown' on 8-Month Adivasi Protest Against Mining

The movements' leaders had allegedly been surveilled and were beaten up brutally on the day. Several of the protesters' huts were burnt and their belongings taken.

thewire.in