GUWAHATI: Raijor Dal MLAs staged a protest on the premises of the Assam Legislative Assembly against the arrest of Kaziranga hotel project opponent and indigenous rights activist Pranab Doley, along with activist Aditya Rabha, accusing the Assam government of targeting those protesting alleged encroachment on tribal land.
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Dressed in black, the legislators raised slogans and demanded the immediate release of the two activists. Leading the protest, Raijor Dal MLA Akhil Gogoi alleged that the BJP-led government was attempting to take away land from notified tribal belts and blocks, which are reserved exclusively for indigenous communities.
“The BJP government is snatching away land from tribal belts and blocks—areas designated exclusively for tribal settlement. Leaders from this community, such as Aditya Rabha and Pranab Doley, protested against this move, and the public joined in the protest. However, both of them were arrested over the last two days. That is why we have arrived at the Assembly today, dressed in black, to protest against this action. We will never allow the land of the indigenous people to be snatched away,” Gogoi said.
The protest comes a day after indigenous rights activist and former independent Assembly candidate Pranab Doley was arrested by Assam Police in Guwahati on Sunday, July 12, in connection with a criminal case registered at Bokakhat Police Station.
Police personnel detained Doley from a house in the Sundarpur area of the city, where he had reportedly been staying with a friend. While being escorted by police, Doley alleged that he was taken into custody without being shown an arrest warrant.
“Without any warrant they are taking me away, like hooligans kidnap people. Now we can't even work peacefully,” he told reporters.
Officials at Dispur Police Station confirmed the arrest, stating that a team from Bokakhat Police was on its way to Guwahati to formally take Doley into custody.
According to police records, Doley has been booked under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Sections 61(2), 62, 74, 121, 121(1), 121(2), 132, 190, 191(2), 191(3), 221, 324(2), 326(g), 329(3) and 351(3), in connection with a case registered at Bokakhat Police Station on June 29.
Doley's arrest comes days after he publicly raised the Ingle Pathar issue at Hatikhuli in Kaziranga. He has been actively opposing the alleged allocation of land in Ingle Pathar and Hatikhuli—areas on the fringe of Kaziranga National Park—which were allegedly reclassified and allotted to a hospitality company without consulting long-standing occupants and cultivators.
In November last year, Doley represented India at the 14th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
As of filing this report, Assam Police had not disclosed further details regarding the allegations underlying the case registered against Doley.
Meanwhile, the circumstances surrounding the arrest of activist Aditya Rabha were not immediately disclosed, although Raijor Dal leaders said both arrests were linked to protests over land issues affecting indigenous communities.