"HRD Alert -India – Urgent Appeal for Action – Odisha: Threats, intimidation, misuse of law and fabricated charges against Mr. Muralidhar Sahoo, Mr. Bibekananda Swain and other environmental activists", 8 December 2021

[...] Mr. Muralidhar Sahoo, Mr. Bibekananda Swain and others are residents of Dhinkia panchayat under Erasama block in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district. They have been opposing efforts to set up large industries in the coastal belt for over 20 years fearing ecological destruction and loss of forests and livelihoods. Mr. Sahoo and others participated in a peaceful movement opposing a steel plant and port by South Korean steel giant POSCO for 15 years. Although the Odisha government forcibly acquired land for the project in 2013 and cut down over 3 lakh trees, opposition against the project remained strong, and in 2017, POSCO exited.

A year later, the state government announced that the Jindal Steel Works (JSW) would set up a mega project at the site comprising steel, power and cement plants and captive jetties. Mr. Muralidhar Sahoo, Mr. Bibekananda Swain and other HRDs in Dhinkia panchayat renewed their movement and in subsequent months and years, they conducted numerous public meetings, rallies and demonstrations opposing the JSW project. In recent months, they also opposed the project in public hearings conducted by the administration...

On December 1, 2021, at 8 PM, an FIR (123/ 2021) was registered at the Abhayachandpur Police Station against 34 HRDs including Mr. Muralidhar Sahoo and Mr. Bibekananda Swain and 300 other unnamed villagers for blocking the entry of officials into Mahala. The accused were charged under 143 (unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint), 294 (absence of complainant), 506 (criminal intimidation), 353 (assault or use of criminal force on a public servant), 186 (voluntarily obstructing any public servant in the discharge of his public functions), and 149 (common intent) of the Indian Penal Code...

When HRDs like Mr. Muralidhar Sahoo, Mr. Bibekananda Swain and others are targeted and implicated in false cases for opposing big industries fearing they will cause massive environmental destruction, these rights are grossly violated...