The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and another UN expert to the Government of India on 25 October 2024. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. The Government replied on 18 December 2024.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the alleged physical attack against Mr. Manohar Pegu and Mr. Ritupan Pegu and their subsequent detention and criminalisation.
Mr. Manohar Pegu and Mr. Ritupan Pegu are human rights defenders, members of the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Committee (GKLHRC). The GKHLRC was established in 2021. It is a large group with members in more than 100 villages around the area of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The group aims to protect the biodiversity of the park and the land rights of the people living in the vicinity of it, including indigenous Adivasi peoples.
ALLEGATIONS
In September 2023, the Chief Minister of Assam announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Hyatt Group to set up the 5-star hotel in Inglay Pathar, at the border of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve. In order to provide for the construction of this hotel, common land used by Adivasi peoples for farming, and as a grazing area for wild animals from the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, has been claimed by the state and allocated to the Assam Tourism Development Corporation.
On 7 August 2024, Mr. Manohar Pegu and Mr. Ritupan Pegu travelled to Inglay Pathar, in the Golaghat District of the state of Assam, to collect testimonies of families allegedly displaced by land acquisitions made to make way for the construction of the proposed Hyatt hotel. While speaking with affected families, the human rights defenders were set upon by a large group of over 100 persons who threatened them and other members of the GKHLRC, damaged their vehicle in an attempt to prevent them from leaving, and proceeded to attack them and those they were interviewing, leaving two people from the affected families hospitalized.
During these events, two individuals went to Bokakhat police station to alert the police of the actions of the mob. However, the police reportedly refused to take action, and instead detained the two individuals. Mr. Manohar Pegu and Mr. Ritupan Pegu were also detained, by agents from the Kohora police outpost, along with members of the displaced families. No members of the group who had perpetrated the attack against the human rights defenders were arrested.
On 8 August 2024, all those who had been arrested the previous day were released on bail. A first information report (FIR) was registered against Mr. Manohar Pegu and Mr. Ritupan Pegu and two other individuals, accusing them of criminal conspiracy, assaulting a woman, promoting enmity, extortion, trespass and intimidation. Under their bail conditions, Mr. Manohar Pegu and Mr. Ritupan Pegu are forbidden from visiting the Kaziranga area.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our serious concern at the alleged physical attack against Mr. Manohar Pegu and Mr. Ritupan Pegu, as well as members of families reportedly displaced in the Kaziranga area. We express further concern at the detention of the human rights defenders, which we fear to be arbitrary, carried out in direct retaliation for their legitimate human rights work. We also express concern at the allegedly fabricated criminal complaint submitted against them, and the potential violations of indigenous peoples’ rights linked to the proposed hotel developments in the area, which appear to underly the alleged attacks against the human rights defenders.