India: minority rights defender laid off for joining protests
Event- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Jul 15, 2021
- Event Description
About the Human Rights Defender: Mr. Nitesh Alawa works as a patwari (revenue officer) in the village of Badi Khattal in Jobat tehsil of Alirajpur district in Madhya Pradesh. Mr. Alawa has been active in the advocating for the rights of Adivasis in the region and has in the past raised his voice against atrocities committed against the Adivasi communities. Mr. Alawa is the district president, Alirajpur of the Madhya Pradesh Patwari Union, the Media In-charge of Tribal Employees-Officers Organization and is the district vice president of the Sched- uled Caste-Scheduled Tribe Officer Employee Organization.
Background of the Incident: On May 13, 2021, five members of an Adivasi family, including three minors were murdered in Nemawar village in Madhya Pradesh by members of the dominant caste community. Their bodies were buried on the farm of one of the accused and were discovered on June 29, 2021, 48 days after the crime. The incident triggered several large protests in the region by organisations against the lackadaisical attitude of the police and the administration in investigating the murders.
Details of the Incident: On July 4, 2021, and July 11, 2021, Mr. Alawa attended peaceful citizen protests in Nemawar and Manpur respectively. Both were Sundays. The third protest in Kasarvad was held on July 14, a Wednesday. Mr. Alawa was present as a promoter of Adivasi rights at the protests and expressed peaceful dissent against the administration’s han- dling of the case. On July 15, 2021, Mr. Alawa received an order suspending him from his work under Rule 3(1), 5 (1), 6(1) of the Madhya Pradesh Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1965 and Rule 9 of the M.P. Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1966, which authorizes suspensions pending disciplinary actions.
The order stated that it had come to the administration’s notice that he had made incendiary and inflammatory speeches at Adivasi meetings held in the village of Nemawar in Devas district, village Manpur in Indore district and village Kasarvad in Khargone district. The order stated that the speeches made by Mr. Alawa featured in videos that went ‘viral’ on social media.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline
- Right to Protest
- Right to work
- HRD
- Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
Case shared by FORUM-ASIA member
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 22.30316353290639
Longitude: 74.35449904758498
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 15 July 2021, Mr. Nitesh Alawa, minority rights defender advocating for Adivasis community, had his job contract revoked by local administration after joining demonstrations against the unpunished murders of Adivasis in Alirajpur District, India.