Indigenous rights groups on Sunday accused Indian authorities of criminalizing land defenders following the arrest of Assamese activist Pranab Doley, who has led opposition to a proposed Hyatt luxury hotel project near Kaziranga National Park.
The Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI) said Doley, an Indigenous human rights defender, was arrested on July 12 after about 100 police personnel surrounded the house where he was staying in Guwahati.
According to the rights group, police arrested Doley without producing a warrant, confiscated his mobile phone, and denied him contact with supporters before transferring him from Dispur Police Station to the custody of Bokakhat Police.
IPRI said the arrest was linked to a criminal complaint filed on June 29 after Doley led peaceful opposition to the proposed Hyatt development at Inglay (Inle) Pathar, on the fringes of Kaziranga National Park.
Indigenous communities have opposed the project, arguing that it threatens their ancestral lands, agricultural livelihoods, biodiversity, and the ecological integrity of the surrounding landscape.
The group said authorities have filed 13 criminal charges against Doley, including conspiracy, unlawful assembly, rioting, criminal trespass, assault, and criminal intimidation, adding that at least three of the charges are non-bailable.
Video footage circulating publicly showed Doley questioning the circumstances of his arrest.
IPRI also said Doley had been a leading figure in campaigns opposing Asian Development Bank-funded solar farm projects in Karbi Anglong district, where affected Indigenous communities have raised concerns over their livelihoods and control of ancestral lands.
The organization further alleged that police raided Doley’s ancestral home while searching for Rajiv Pegu, another member of the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee.
“The raid raises serious concerns that authorities are expanding their crackdown on Indigenous leaders involved in the peaceful defense of community land rights,” IPRI said.
The organization argued that the arrest reflected “an increasingly coordinated effort to criminalize Indigenous human rights defenders rather than address the legitimate concerns raised by affected communities.”
“The use of excessive police deployment, arbitrary arrests, raids on family homes, and sweeping criminal charges against peaceful activists creates a climate of fear intended to weaken community resistance to land dispossession,” it said.
Calling for Doley’s immediate and unconditional release, IPRI said peaceful opposition to forced land acquisition and environmentally destructive projects is protected under international human rights standards.
“Defending Indigenous Peoples’ lands, territories, and natural resources is not a crime,” the organization said.
The International Peoples’ Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) also condemned the arrest, saying it was connected to Doley’s role in organizing Adivasi farmers and Indigenous communities against the proposed Hyatt project.
“This attack against Doley is in relation to his instrumental role in leading Adivasi farmers and communities in a protest movement against the Hyatt Luxury Hotel at Inglay Parthar,” the organization said.
“For years now, Indigenous farming communities have been organizing against projects seeking to encroach and exploit their ancestral lands for tourism and profit.”
IPMSDL described the arrest as part of what it called a broader pattern of repression against Indigenous communities in India.
“Pranab Doley is not a criminal, nor are the Adivasis and farmers of Assam. Their resistance against the nexus of Hindutva-fascism, national oppression, and corporate plunder is just and legitimate, and must not be treated as acts of criminality,” the organization said.
The group urged the Assam Police and other authorities to “immediately release Doley and junk the trumped-up charges against him and his activism.”
