AHMEDABAD, India (UCAN) – Jesuit activists in Gujarat have criticized the recent arrests of two people who worked among tribal people in the western Indian state.

Father Xavier Manjooran

“It appears that to demand one’s legal rights and to be a terrorist is the same thing in Gujarat,” Father Xavier Manjooran, a member of the Adivasi Mahasabha (federation of tribal organizations) of Gujarat, told UCA News April 5.

The Jesuit was referring to the arrest of Avinash Kulkarni and Bharat Powar on March 21 on charges of being linked with Maoists who planned to wage war against the nation.

The two members of a labor union affiliated to the tribal federation have worked for the advancement of Gujarat’s indigenous people for the past 15 years.

On April 4, a tribal outfit held a big public meeting at Zankhvav in Navsari district and asked the government to stop arresting people under the pretext of cracking down on Maoists.

Father Manjooran condemned the arrests and pointed out that the two had played a significant role in making the federal government enact the Forest Rights Act in 2006 that gave tribal people rights over forest land.

Tribal people account for about 15 percent of Gujarat’s 50.7 million people.

‘Illegal arrests, tortures and murders‘

Father Manjooran also said the tribal federation condemned increasing incidents of illegal arrests, and custodial torture and murders. He alleged a state conspiracy to undermine tribal rights.

He also alleged police tortured Kulkarni and Powar in violation of Supreme Court guidelines for police officers making arrests. Even the judge asked the police to follow the guidelines when they presented the two for hearing, he added.

Father Manjooran demanded the government deal with human rights activists in a just and transparent manner.

His confrere, Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash, who directs a human rights center in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s commercial capital, says the arrests indicated “a strong nexus” among the government, industrialists and powerful people to grab forest land by ousting tribal people.

“Anyone fighting for tribal rights and justice is being hounded, intimidated and harassed,” Father Prakash told UCA News. He hailed the arrested duo as “people totally committed to fighting for tribal rights.”

Another Jesuit, Father Jolly Nadukudiyil, said Kulkarni and Powar acted as spokespersons of poor tribal people and prevented their exploitation by state agencies and powerful anti-forest lobbies.

On March 22, an opposition member raised the matter in the state legislative assembly and described the arrests as “undemocratic and suppression of tribal” people.