Release adivasi leader Lado Sikaka

Sana Sikaka, a leader of the Dongria Kondh indigenous communities who was abducted by gunmen on 9 August, has been released. Another leader is still being held.

Sana Sikaka, one of the Dongria Kondh indigenous community leaders in the eastern Indian state of Orissa who was abducted on the evening on 9 August, was released yesterday evening. 

He has informed journalists that he and Lado Sikaka, (in picture), were stopped at Izrupa at the foothills of Niyamgiri as they were leaving with a group of activists in a van to catch a train to Delhi. About fifteen men in plain clothes, armed with automatic weapons, had parked their two vans nearby and were hiding in a forest. They surrounded Lado and Sana and said they were taking them. They intimidated the other activists, snatching their mobile phones and the van key and forced them to walk towards Lanjigarh, the nearest town. Then the plainclothesmen, along with Lado and Sana, walked to the vans and then made a long drive towards the neighbouring district of Rayagada, stopping at a few places en route. Yesterday evening, when they reached Bijepur town, they pushed Sana Sikaka out of the vehicle, forcing him to commence a long journey back to Niyamgiri. They appear to have taken Lado Sikaka to Rayagada town and detained him there. 

Lado Sikaka and Sana Sikaka are both campaigning against a proposed bauxite mine in the Niyamgiri Hills in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. Research by Amnesty International indicates that the Niyamgiri bauxite mining project, which would be located on the Dongria Kondh's sacred sites, traditional lands and habitats, is likely to result in violations of their rights to water, food, health, work and other rights to protection of their culture and identity. The project is currently awaiting clearance from India's Ministry of Environment and Forests. 

Please write to the Governments of India and Orissa to take all necessary measures to ensure his safe return. Also appeal to them to launch an investigation into the complaint over the abduction of the two Dongria Kondh leaders, in full compliance with the country's obligations under international human rights law. 

You can write to or email the Chief Minister of Orissa - Naveen Patnaik at the following address:

State Secretariat

Sachiyalaya Marg,

Bhubaneshwar,

Orissa 750 001, India

Tel: +91 674 2536682

Fax: +91 674 2390562

Email: cmo@nic.in (or) cmo@ori.nic.in

Salutation: Dear Chief Minister

You can also write to or email the Minister of Home Affairs - P. Chidambaram at the following address:

104, North Block, 

New Delhi 110 001, India

Tel: +91 11 2309 2462

Tel: +91 11 2301 7256

Fax: +91 11 2301 7256

Email: hm@nic.in

Salutation: Dear Home Minister

(Photo and text courtesy Amnesty International)

Punishing the Victims Saves Precious Public Resources.

In India we punish the victims of crime. Yeah, I know many countries punish the perpetrator but that approach assumes we don’t have a choice. Of course we do! Besides, its also easier to punish the victim because you often know who they are, unlike the more cumbersome approach of finding perpetrators. It is a waste of public resources.

Also, if victims weren’t so foolishly vulnerable, would people go about victimising them? The answer is a clear negative. For instance, if you didn’t ride a bicycle on the main road, you wouldn’t get run over by a bus. Or if you weren’t old and diabetic, you wouldn’t get overpowered by your burglars. Or if you weren’t a female, you wouldn’t get raped. Its all so obvious and yet people don’t get it! They continue to fall into all sorts of traps instead of just getting under the covers and staying there so that no harm may come to them.

Recently in Orissa, “boyfriends” were caught filming their girlfriends naked and selling the stuff on the market. One girl killed herself when she found her naked images on a CD. Now authorities in Orissa want to warn all girls against rushing into physical relationships. Combining moral science with law is such a superb idea.

But that’s not enough because there may be some rotten wenches who will still disobey despite knowing these dangers. So just to make doubly sure that this campaign is successful, the Orissa State Women’s Commission chairperson, a free thinker by the name of Jyoti Panigrahi, has told parents to ‘monitor the movements of their daughters and keep an eye on their activities.’ It’s a good suggestion but doesn’t go far enough. Locking women up would be so much easier. But sometimes it is hard to make such suggestions without avoiding charges of sexism.

Some lawyers in Kamakshanagar have held a protest rally demanding the immediate arrest of the “boyfriends” involved. This is outrageous. Now every man in Cuttack will be looked at suspiciously. How will the police prove that the guys were in a relationship? Are the police supposed to drop VIP duty to chase after boys in the street now? Is this what its come to? Mad.