NBA condemns as reprehensible the lathi charge, illegal arrests and seizure of
office of long-standing peaceful and lawful mass people’s struggle in the
Narmada Valley in Khandwa

Narmada Bachao Andolan severely condemns the unjust and unlawful treatment
meted out by the Government of Madhya Pradesh to the displaced people of Indira
Sagar, Omkareshwar and other dams and the activists working with them to
realize their right to lawful rehabilitation. According to information
received, activists Alok Agrawal, Kailashbhai, Kalubhai and some other
villagers were unlawfully arrested today afternoon and the NBA office in
Khandwa was forcefully seized and sealed by the police, without any prior
intimation. The whole process of arrest and seizure, we are informed, was
illegal, not following law and procedure. This only re-inforces our assertion
of the total absence of rule of law in the state.

It may be noted that only yesterday, after a mass rally of thousands of
displaced farmers on the 28th, Chittaroopa Palit, Ramkuwar, Kamla Yadav and 18
other activists who were staging a dharna at the Khandwa Collctorate were
brutally lathi charged and arrested. The only crime they have committed is to
seek enforcement of the directives of the Hon’ble High Court of Jabalpur to
rehabilitate the displaced as per law and policy. All of them have been charged
under various provisions of criminal law, including non-bailable offences.

The saga of development induced displacement due to the giant dams pushed by
the Narmada Valley Development Authority, NHDC and Government of M. P, while
displacing thousands of farmers, adivasis, fish workers, labourers in each dam,
without complying with the basic environmental conditionalities is now
well-known and condemned even by the judiciary. But it is unfortunate that the
Government metes out a ‘terrorist-type’ treatment to the displaced and
activists who are asserting basic established constitutional, legal and human
rights and are challenging the state atrocity, discrimination and injustice in
the Court and in the field.

We strongly object to NBA’s office being taken into custody, particularly the
files of the people, all of which is nothing but an assault on the basic
constitutional right to freedom of association and the freedom of speech and
expression. The behavior of the State is nothing short of contempt of court and
interference in count-administered justice to the displaced.

Today, not just in Madhya Pradesh, but all through the country, even as the
Government trumpets of ‘combating the menace of naxalism’, it is only
increasingly curbing and curtailing non-violent people’s struggles, which we
feel would prove counter-productive and the anger and struggle of the displaced
and marginalized, far from lessening, will only intensify. We warn the
Government to behave as per the law and Constitution and unconditionally and
immediately release al the arrested activists and displaced persons, withdraw
all false cases foisted against them and restitute their office.

We urge you to write to the National and State Human Rights Commission to take
legal against those responsible for these violations and also to the Chief
Minister calling upon him and his administration to respect law and people’s
rights.

Medha Patkar
Ashish Mandloi
Kailash Awasya
Shrikanth