Row erupts over Chhattisgarh police arrest of 25-year-old tribal activist

PUCL said Suneeta Pottam petitioned the court in 2019 over the alleged extra-judicial killings of six persons in four villages of Bijapur district

RAIPUR: A controversy erupted in Chhattisgarh on Monday after the state police arrested a 25-year-old woman who advocates for the rights of tribal, provoking howls of protests from the human rights groups that accused the police of framing her in fake cases to silence her.

New Delhi: Suneeta Pottam (left) and her friend during their Delhi visit in January 2018 to approach the Supreme Court to seek transfer of her case (Raj K Raj/HT FILE PHOTO)

Bastar range inspector general of police (IGP) Sunderaj P said Suneeta Pottam was wanted in 12 cases linked to Maoist activities and was arrested from Raipur.

“Suneeta Pottam (25) was held by a team of Bijapur police from Raipur, where she was living under an assumed name and identity. She is a resident of Korcholi village under the Gangaloor police station area in Bijapur and is a key operative of the Maoists’ urban network and frontal organisation. At least 12 warrants are pending against Potam in three different police stations in Bijapur for offences related to murder, attempt to murder, loot, provocative speeches and causing damage to government property,” Sunderaj said.

From HT Archives: Meet the Bastar girls taking on security forces over extra-judicial encounters

Bijapur superintendent of police Jitendra Yadav said seven of the 12 cases against Suneeta Pottam were registered at Gangaloor police station. Four cases are registered at Mirtur police station and one at Bijapur police station.

She was produced before a local court and remanded in judicial custody, police said.

The Chhattisgarh unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) rebutted the police claim, insisting that Pottam was a “tribal activist and a human rights defender” and “an active member of PUCL Chhattisgarh and of national women’s organization WSS (Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression) since 2015”.

The statement said Suneeta Pottam was staying with colleagues of a women’s collective to prepare for an examination when the police turned up. “In the most shocking way, the other two colleagues were pushed inside the room and bolted from outside before the Deputy Superintendent of Police took Pottam in an unregistered vehicle without number plates threatening the landlady not to open the door. In less than half an hour, the DSP returned to flash the warrant against Pottam, refusing to give a copy to her colleagues and PUCL member Shreya Khemani who reached the place after hearing the news,” the statement alleged.

Mary Lawlor, a United Nations Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, said Suneeta Pottam’s arrest was “seemingly as a result of her peaceful advocacy” for the protection of tribal rights and against systemic violations. “She should be released immediately @IndiaUNGeneva,” she said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

PUCL also said she was arrested in violation of the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in the DK Basu case, adding that no memo of arrest was prepared or attested by family, friends and neighbours.

In 2016, Pottam petitioned the Chhattisgarh high court over the alleged extra-judicial killings of six persons in Kadenar, Palnar, Korcholi and Andri villages of Bijapur district, it said.

“At the local level she has been leading ongoing protests against the widening of roads piercing through several villages, cutting hundreds of fruit-bearing trees without holding any gram sabha in complete violation of the PESA Act,” the PUCL statement said.