BERHAMPUR: Tribal rights activists Dr Randall Sequeira and Laxman Naik have been arrested in connection with a clash between police and protesters during an anti-mining agitation in Kantamal village in Rayagada district earlier in April, triggering backlash from political leaders and human rights activists.
Kashipur police arrested the activists from their houses in Kalahandi on October 16 night and forwarded them to court, a senior police officer said on Tuesday. They have been charged with serious offences, including attempt to murder and rioting, and booked under the Arms Act, the officer added.
Notably, the Sijimali hill has been a conflict zone since 2023 following government approval for bauxite mining. The situation worsened after road construction work began near Shagbari village, triggering fresh clashes between police and locals on April 7. Several villagers and police personnel were injured in the incident. Police said although Sequeira and Naik were not named in the original FIR, their involvement came to the light during investigation. “The duo had instigated tribal residents to attack the police force,” police said.
South Western Range DIG Akhileshvar Singh defended the arrests, alleging that Sequeira was not providing medical services to local communities but was instead involved in mobilising tribals against the state government. He also accused Naik of misleading people. Questioning the criticism of Sequeira’s arrest, Singh said several doctors were working in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts, but none had been arrested apart from the doctor in question.
Singh challenged those defending Sequeira to examine whether he had been providing medical services or instigating people. Responding to allegations of police torture, the DIG said the two had not raised any such complaint before the magistrate in court.
Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh condemned the arrests and said both activists were supporting protests by Dalit and Adivasi communities against Bauxite mining projects.
“This is part of a larger campaign of repression in Odisha which has seen 43 police cases and over a 100 people jailed in three years,” he said in a post on X. “In Sijimali, there are serious allegations of forging of Gram Sabha consent. The Congress has documented such cases of ‘Angutha Chori’ across BJP-ruled states. It is no surprise that one of the proposed mines is a Modani project,” the MP said.
Koraput MP Saptagiri Ulaka said in a post on X that he had met Sequeira, Laxman Naik and Lado Sikaka, along with their lawyer in Rayagada jail along with district Congress committee president and Rayagada MLA K Appala Swamy and “we (are) working on next steps. Have assured them of all help legally & on the ground.”
Human rights group Concerned Citizens Committee, Odisha, condemned the arrests, alleging that the action was intended to suppress the tribal community’s struggle for justice and its rights over natural resources. They further claimed that the arrests were part of a broader pattern of state repression against tribal and Dalit communities resisting the loss of their land and natural resources to mining and industrial projects. The committee further stated that both activists have supported local movements opposing the adverse effects of mining and industrialisation and seeking to protect the habitats of tribal communities.