The Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat on Friday presented a fact-finding report on the firing on the Kaimur Adivasis of Bihar, and demanded the prosecution of officials and dropping of false cases filed against the Adivasis.
A press release by three non-governmental organisations alleged that the police fired on peacefully protesting Adivasis in Adhaura Block of Kaimur district of Bihar on September 11, injuring seven of them. The police also arrested those who were wounded, it added.
The press release said that the Adivasis of Kaimur were protesting against the decision to earmark the Kaimur Forest Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve, which they felt would endanger their land rights. The injured protestors were released on bail on October 16. Two days later, in response to a boycott call given by the Kaimur Mukti Morcha, Union minister Nityanand Rai airdropped into the area, pleading with the protestors to lift the boycott.
The press release said that a fact-finding team comprising Amir Sherwani Khan of the All India Union of Forest Working People, Matadayal from the All India Union of Forest Working People, Raja Rabbi Hussain from the Delhi Solidarity…
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