Arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of HRDs Pranab Doley and Soneshwar Narah in Assam
On 18 April 2020, the Sub Divisional Magistrate Court of Assam granted conditional bail to human rights defenders Pranab Doley and Soneshwar Narah.
On 7 April 2020, human rights defenders Soneshwar Narah and Pranab Doley of the organisation Jeepal Krishak Shramik Sangha were arbitrarily arrested by officers of the Bokhkhat Police Station in Golaghat, Assam. The defenders were summoned to the police station on the pretext of inquiring into a complaint filed by them on 6 April. Instead, they were arrested, based on a First Information Report (FIR) filed 2 years prior, in June 2018. They are currently in Golaghat jail.
Pranab Doley serves as its Secretary. The HRD has been a vocal advocate for the rights of peasant and indigenous communities in Assam. He has struggled for social justice and to hold government authorities, including police and local government authorities, accountable for violations and deprivations against the local indigenous community.
On 18 April 2020, at the second hearing of their bail application, the Sub Divisional Magistrate Court of Assam granted conditional bail to human rights defenders Pranab Doley and Soneshwar Narah. The defenders' first bail application was rejected on 8 April 2020.
On 7 April 2020, human rights defenders Soneshwar Narah and Pranab Doley of the organisation Jeepal Krishak Shramik Sangha were arbitrarily arrested by officers of the Bokhkhat Police Station in Golaghat, Assam. The defenders were summoned to the police station on the pretext of inquiring into a complaint filed by them on 6 April. Instead, they were arrested, based on a First Information Report (FIR) filed 2 years prior, in June 2018. They are currently in Golaghat jail.
Soneshwar Narah is the convenor of Jeepal Krishak Shramik Sangha (JKSS), a farmers’ rights organisation in Assam. Pranab Doley serves as its Secretary. The human rights defenders have been vocal advocates for the rights of peasant and indigenous communities in Assam. They have struggled for social justice and to hold government authorities, including police and local government authorities, accountable for violations and deprivations against the local indigenous community. In the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately affected poor and marginalised communities, their human rights work is critical. It ensures local peasants’ and indigenous peoples’ access to the essentials necessary to preserve life.
On 6 April 2020, the human rights defenders filed an official letter of complaint on behalf of JKSS with the Chief Minister of Assam regarding the illegal siphoning by the authorities of approximately 800kg of rice from the public distribution system through local cooperatives, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. They also registered a FIR in this matter in the Bokhkhat Police Station on 6 April.
On 7 April, Soneshwar Narah and Pranab Doley were summoned to the Bokhkhat Police Station on the pretext of inquiring into their complaint filed the previous day. There was no official summons served on the human rights defenders. However, at the police station, Soneshwar Narah and Pranab Doley were arrested, based on an FIR filed in June 2018, nearly two years prior, on which no action had been taken so far and regarding which the human rights defenders had no prior information. On 8 April, the Sub Divisional Magistrate Court denied the defenders’ bail application. The next hearing is scheduled for 18 April 2020.
The sudden arrest of the two human rights defenders based on a 2-year-old case, of which they had no prior information, raises serious concerns regarding the protection of their due process rights, especially since they were summoned to the police station under false pretence. The conduct of government authorities and the police is clearly aimed at punishing and deterring the human rights defenders for their peaceful human rights work in exposing criminal corruption in the distribution of supplies to marginalised communities. In this context, the right to question, seek information and hold public officers and elected authorities accountable is critical to the peaceful work of human rights defenders. Criminalising their work and targeting them through the selective application of the law sets a dangerous precedent for the safety of human rights defenders and the community they serve.
The arrest of Soneshwar Narah and Pranab Doley is especially alarming in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. The threats of contagion in prisons are well documented and there are national measures undertaken, including through the Indian Supreme Court, to decongest prisons during the pandemic. The arrest of the defenders runs counter to global and national best practice and amounts to a deliberate attempt to target and place the defenders in increasingly harmful conditions.
Front Line Defenders is concerned about the targeting of human rights defenders in the region, and has issued urgent appeals regarding threats and legal persecution against members of the Youth’s Forum of the Protection of Human Rights and Dr. Debabrata Roy in Manipur.
Front Line Defenders condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Soneshwar Narah and Pranab Doley, as it believes that they are a direct reprisal against the human rights defenders’ peaceful human rights work. Front Line Defenders is extremely concerned about the safety of Soneshwar Narah and Pranab Doley as they remain incarcerated in the context of COVID-19.
