About the Human Rights Defender: Mr. Rooplal Baiga (58) is a resident of Kurmitheel village. The HRD belongs to the Baiga community- a primitive tribe group- protected under the Prevention of SC/ST Atrocities Act. He has been associated with community organisations which work towards the rights of Adivasi communities in MP. Background to the incident: Kurmitheel village has faced an issue of fly ash being dumped on the lands owned by villagers, which has affected their crops. The fly ash was being transported through the road in front of HRDs house and had deposits in his house and his land. He had told the contractors to transport it properly and stated that he would file an official complaint. He has even stopped trucks from passing through the village to protest on behalf of the village as nearly all families were affected by this issue. Details of the Incident: On December 26, 2021, at around 11 pm, Mr. Baiga was going to tend to his field, when he was first verbally abused by three men. When he responded to the abuses and told them to stop, they held him down and beat him with a stick. As a result of the attack, he suffered grave injuries. The assaulters broke both his legs and his left arm. The assaulters also hurled casteist abuses on Mr. Baiga during the assault. The assault lasted for about 10 minutes. Hearing the commotion outside, neighbouring residents came out after which the assaulters fled the scene. After the attack, he was taken for treatment at a private hospital at Jabalpur. However, there was no MLC conducted as he did not go to a government hospital. On December 27, 2021, the HRD’s family approached Ghansore police station to file the complaint. However, Inspector Raman Singh Markam did not register an FIR and instead insinuated that the HRD had received injuries due to an accident. On January 10, 2022, the police at Ghansore police station registered an FIR (No. 0005/2022) regarding the attack, based on a complaint by the HRD. The FIR states that the police had made an entry (No. 14) in the general diary regarding the attack on December 27, 2021, at 4.26 p.m. The FIR has named three accused – Mr. Chandu Rai, Mr. Makbool Khan and Mr. Anurudh Patel who were charged under IPC sections 294 (obscene acts or songs in a public place), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 34 (acts done by several persons) as well as sections 3 (1) and section 3 (2) (va) of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act (PoA Act). The three are known to be local strongmen who work for the contractors the Jabhua Power Plant. The three wield considerable clout in the region and are not in police custody. The HRD and his family fear that they will use their clout and freedom to intimidate the HRD and his family further.