[Reader-list] AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Public Statemen India: Authorities must ensure justice for victims of Kalinganagar shootings six years ago

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Public Statemen India: Authorities must ensure
justice for victims of Kalinganagar shootings six years ago

*AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL*

*Public Statement**- India: Authorities must ensure justice for victims of
Kalinganagar shootings six years ago*



*AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL*

*Public Statement*

AI Index: ASA 20/001/2012

1 January 2012

*India: **Authorities must **e* *nsure* *justice for victims of
Kalinganagar shootings six years ago*

Authorities in Orissa should no longer delay justice for the victims and
survivors of the Kalinganagar police shootings six years ago when 12 *
adivasis *(Indigenous people) were killed* *and 37 others injured, Amnesty
International said today. Police opened fire when *adivasis* were
protesting against the forcible acquisition of their lands and habitats and
the insufficient compensation they received.

The shootings evoked widespread condemnation and prompted India’s federal
authorities to reconsider the current framework for land acquisition. They
were the first in a series of attacks on *adivasis* and other marginalized
communities protesting against forcible land acquisition for corporate-led
industrial and extractive sector projects in India during the last six
years.

On 2 January 2006, 12 *adivasis *– including three women and a 12-year-old
boy – were killed and 37 others injured, as hundreds of *adivasis* protested
against the construction of a six million tonne Tata Steel plant at
Kalinganagar in northern Orissa. One policeman was also killed when the
protests turned violent. The *adivasis* *,* * *from the *Munda*community
who live in Orissa and the neighbouring state of Jharkhand, wanted to
renegotiate the acquisition of lands and habitats.

The Orissa authorities have extended several times the term of the judicial
inquiry into the police shootings. The inquiry, successively led by three
different judges of the Orissa high court, remains inconclusive. The state
authorities have also failed to act against police involved in shootings of
*adivasi *protestors in March, April and May 2010, which killed Laxman
Jamuda, a 50-year-old *adivasi* leader, and injured 40 other protestors at
the same time as they were facing attacks from private militias trying to
forcibly evict them to facilitate construction of a common road corridor.

Recently leaders of the *Bisthapan Birodhi Jan Manch*, the
anti-displacement group which had organized the protests, told Amnesty
International that the protesting *adivasis* were still awaiting full
redress for the Kalinganagar attack. They have lost their lands and
habitats in the 5,000 hectare industrial complex at Kalinganagar which now
has 17 projects in the extractive sector.

The Orissa authorities have an obligation to ensure justice for the victims
and survivors by prosecuting those officials, police personnel and others
suspected of being responsible for human rights violations, in proceedings
which meet international standards of fairness.

Amnesty International urges the Orissa authorities to seriously address the
ongoing negative impact of the forcible acquisition of lands and habitats
in Kalinganagar on the affected *adivasi* communities in full consultation
with them. In particular, any person whose human rights have been violated
should have access to justice and to an effective remedy and reparations.

Amnesty International also urges authorities in India to include, in the
new legislation, provisions for an open and transparent process to seek the
free, prior, informed consent (FPIC) of *adivasi *communities on all future
plans whenever they propose to acquire their lands and habitats for
development projects.

*Background*

At least 50 persons – mostly *adivasis* and farmers - have been killed and
more than 100 others injured in several police shootings and other
incidents while protesting against forcible acquisition of their lands and
habitats for corporate-led industrial projects in India during the last six
years. In a majority of cases, the authorities have yet to prosecute those
responsible for the violations. Moreover, new legislation, aimed at
reforming the existing legal framework for land acquisition for
corporate-led industrial projects, is still awaiting enactment in India’s
Parliament.