Indigenous Rights Group Demands Release of Pranab Doley Following Arrest

Itanagar, India Jul 15, 2026 ALN: ARIZONA (USA), 14 Jul: The Indigenous Rights and Protected Areas Initiative of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Programme (IPLP) at the University of Arizona’s James E Rogers College of Law condemned the arrest of indigenous human rights defender Pranab Doley, and called for his immediate and unconditional release.

Doley was arrested by the Assam Police at 3:20 am on 13 July at the Bokakhat police station in connection with a criminal case registered at the Bokakhat police station on 29 June.

Doley, who is also the convener of the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee, has been booked under numerous provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including counts of criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, rioting, obstruction of and assault on public servants, mischief, criminal trespass, and criminal intimidation.

The arrest follows Doley’s leadership of the peaceful movement of Adivasi and indigenous farming families opposing the proposed luxury hotel development at Inglay (Ingle) Pathar, on the fringes of the Kaziranga National Park, and the reported reclassification and allocation of community grazing and agricultural lands to the Assam Tourism Development Corporation for that project.

In June 2026, the Gauhati High Court is reported to have issued notices to the Assam Tourism Development Corporation on a petition brought by 20 Adivasi farming families, challenging the taking of possession and fencing of the land and the absence of the required environmental and social impact assessments.

It comes while the matter is sub judice, the Indigenous Rights and Protected Areas Initiative of the IPLP said in a statement.

“The arrest of the communities’ most prominent spokesperson while those proceedings remain pending is, in our view, capable of having a serious chilling effect on the ability of the affected families to pursue their claims, and we ask that it be examined in that light,” it said.

The Indigenous Rights and Protected Areas Initiative of the IPLP called upon the Government of India and the Government of Assam to immediately and unconditionally release Doley, and withdraw all charges arising from the legitimate and peaceful exercise of his rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association and to the defence of indigenous peoples’ rights, and guarantee his physical and psychological integrity while he remains in custody, and ensure unhindered access to legal counsel, to his family and to independent medical care.

It further urged the government to ensure that any proceedings against him comply fully with the guarantees of due process and fair trial under Indian and international law, and that the circumstances of his arrest, including the reported absence of a warrant, are independently reviewed.

The press statement said that, under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which India is a state party, everyone enjoys the rights to liberty and security of person and to freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention (Article 9), to a fair hearing (Article 14), and to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association (Articles 19, 21 and 22). Detention that is a response to the legitimate exercise of those freedoms is arbitrary within the meaning of Article 9 and of the jurisprudence of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, it said.

“The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands, territories and resources (Articles 25-26), to redress for lands taken or damaged without their free, prior and informed consent (Article 28), to freedom from forced removal (Article 10), and to free, prior and informed consent before the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories (Article 32), and that India voted in favour of the declaration,” the statement said.

It added: “The UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders further recognises the right of everyone, individually and in association with others, to promote and strive for the protection of human rights, and the corresponding duty of the state to protect defenders against violence, retaliation and arbitrary action (Articles 1 and 12).”

“These international obligations are reinforced by India’s own legal framework, including the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, which requires the recognition of forest rights and the informed consent of the affected gram sabhas before communities are displaced or their forest lands diverted. Where, as a general matter, tourism or infrastructure development proceeds in indigenous territories without free, prior and informed consent and the criminal law is then brought to bear on those who object, the result is not conservation or development but dispossession under colour of law. It is to avoid that outcome that we ask the authorities to act,” it said.

It further urged the government to suspend all land acquisition, transfer, possession and construction related to the proposed hotel development at Inglay Pathar, “pending the outcome of the proceedings before the Gauhati High Court and the full recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples, including their right to free, prior and informed consent, ensure that all conservation, tourism and infrastructure initiatives in and around the Kaziranga National Park and other protected areas are designed and implemented with the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous and Adivasi communities concerned, and in accordance with the Forest Rights Act, 2006.”

It called upon the National Human Rights Commission of India, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights to monitor this case closely and to engage the Government of India. “We stand ready to provide these mechanisms with documentation,” it said.

Expressing solidarity with Doley, his family, and with the indigenous and Adivasi communities of the Kaziranga landscape, the organisation said it will continue to raise this case in every international forum available until he is free.

Doley belongs to the Mising community of Assam and holds a master of social work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. He has founded and co-founded organisations including the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Advocacy, the All Kaziranga Affected Communities’ Rights Committee, the People Ecology Network and the Jyoti Bishnu Cultural and Research Centre.

In November 2025, he represented affected communities from India at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva.