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HRD Attack

8 Aug 2024

Minali Gowala

Incident date
8 Aug 2024
Date accuracy
All Correct
Minali Gowala
Female
Indigenous peoples, Affected community's leader or member
Beatings & violence
Target: Individual
Location of Incident: India
Hyatt United States of America Hotel Company Response

Sources

On 8 August 2024, Indian human rights defender Pranab Doley, who has been vocal against the proposed development projects in the area, particularly the Hyatt Hotel project in Inglay Pathar, was surrounded by a mob of over 100 individuals in Rongajan Village, Kaziranga. Doley, along with his colleagues Manohar Pegu and Ritupan Pegu, was collecting testimonies from families displaced by the proposed project when they were threatened and assaulted. The mob specifically targeted Doley, issuing threats against him and other members of Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Committee (GKLHRC).

Manohar Pegu and Ritupan Pegu from the GKLHRC were detained.

Minali Gowala and Geeta Gowala are farmers who had been evicted from the land acquired for the proposed Hyatt Hotel and Resorts. The two and Minali´s daughter were assaulted the same day.

Saurav Patgiri, an independent research scholar and Subham, a local youth who had accompanied Saurav, were detained by police.

On August 3, 2024, the Sarma-led state government allegedly signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tata Group to establish a five-star Taj Hotel at Hatikhuli. Previously, in September 2023, the government is also alleged to have signed another MoU with Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels for the development of a five-star hotel at Inglay Pothar.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Center invited both the Taj and Hyatt Hotels to comment on the incident; they did not.