A day after bail, Assam Govt invokes NSA Against Indigenous Rights Activist Pranab Doley

GUWAHATI: Soon after a local court granted bail to indigenous rights activist Pranab Doley, Assam government detained him under the National Security Act.

Doley has been arrested for 'supporting villagers who protested against a proposed five-star resort near the Kaziranga National Park'. Since 2022, indigenous residents of Golaghat have protested and even petitioned the Gauhati High Court against the project, arguing that the land was forcibly acquired from them.

Targeting Assam's BJP government, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh posted on X, "This is a blatant misuse of preventive detention laws and overreach by the state... While granting him bail on July 29, the sessions court had observed that 'where ecological preservation intersects with indigenous survival, criminal law cannot be used to suppress legitimate local anxieties'." He alleged that the 'Assam government invoked NSA to do exactly that'.


"The use of NSA against Doley is part of a growing pattern of BJP governments weaponising extraordinary laws to silence dissent. Similar attempts have been witnessed in Uttar Pradesh, where NSA was invoked against labour activists protesting against exploitative working conditions in Noida."