India: false charges filed against rights defender
Event- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Jul 15, 2014
- Event Description
On 15th July 2014, morning the employees, security guard and vehicles of DB Power Company entered Bwayeb Colony. When villagers queried why the company personnel were entering the village when there was a stay on them by the National Green Tribunal, they did not respond. Subsequently a group of villagers opposed their entry into the village. Mr. S. Sajal Kumar was not present there at that time, but the security guard lodged a false complaint against Mr. S. Sajal Kumar in the local police station the next day i.e. on 16th July. The local police are investigating the matter and Mr. S. Sajal Kumar is being threatened by the company goons and the police because which he has been forced to be away from his house. Background In the year 2007, DB Power Ltd. got an approval from the state government for an open cast mining of coal in village Dharamjaigarh in Raigad district of Chattisgarh. It has been allowed about 540 HC of land. The major area to be acquired is from village Dharamjaigarh. Around four villages nearby will also be impacted by the project. Concerned about the displacement of the villagers concerned and the environmental impact, the villagers formed a common platform to resist, named "BHUMI BACHAAO SANGARSH SAMITI" in 2007. There are about 1000 members and Mr. M. Mangalchand Biswas aged about 75 years and residing at Gram Panchyat, Bwayeb Colony Dharamjaigarh is the president of the forum. Mr. S. Sajal kumar has been one of the active members of the forum since its inception. The company employees have filed about four false cases against Mr. S.Sajal Kumar in the local police station. Mr. S. Sajal Kumar aged about 36 years, S/O Atul Chandra Madhu is a resident of Bwayeb Colony, Dharmajaigarh in the Raigarh District of Chhattisgarh. Sajal Kumar is an active member of the Bhoomi Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, a platform resisting DB Power Company's land acquisition in the area for a coal mine and the environmental impacts that it will cause. He is the Petitioner against the said Company in a case with the National Green Tribunal.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Judicial Harassment
- Reprisal as Result of Communication
- Rights Concerned
- Right to property
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Event Location
Latitude: 22.4461715
Longitude: 83.1809776
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 15 July 2014 Sajal Kumar, an active member of a local land rights movement, was threatened by security guards employed by a mining company and had false charges filed against him. Mr. Kumar has been a core member of the Bhoomi Bachao Sangharsh Samiti group, which opposes a land concession to DB Power Company Ltd., which is developing an open-pit coal mine near his village. This is the fourth false charge filed by the company that Mr. Kumar has faced. He is currently being forced to stay away from his house due to threats from both police and company security guards.