Adivasi Rights Defenders Targeted in India

In Chhattisgarh’s forests and towns, it’s become painfully clear that Adivasi voices challenging state power are being cut down. For years, communities here have lived under heavy militarization, land grabs, and constant pressure from authorities. What feels different now is how openly their leaders are being targeted. Two names that stand out are Raghu Midiyami and Suneeta Pottam. They helped set up the Moolvasi Bachao Manch (MBM), a grassroots effort pushing back against displacement and state violence in Bastar. Their stories are not easy to hear, but they show how indigenous defenders in India are being punished simply for speaking out.

Raghu Midiyami’s Arrest

On February 27, 2025, Raghu was lying in Dantewada District Hospital, recovering from a bad road accident, when officials from the NIA showed up and took him away. This was not just bad luck. That very day he was supposed to sign a petition against the ban on MBM. Just a few months later, in May, the High Court dismissed the entire case. So, for many, the timing of his arrest looked less like a coincidence and more like a warning.

Since then, his health has been deliberately sidelined. Judges told jail authorities to make sure he got proper treatment for his injuries, but he never received the surgery he needed. His bones are now setting the wrong way, leaving him in constant pain. That is not just negligence. It looks and feels intentional, as if withholding care is part of his punishment.

Midiyami wasn’t a quiet figure. Through MBM, he stood at the front of rallies against fake encounters, arbitrary arrests, and the seizure of Adivasi land. Young people in Bastar saw him as someone unafraid to name the injustice around them.

Looking at Raghu Midiyami’s detention, it is hard to believe this is about “security.” It looks much more like retaliation for leading peaceful resistance.

If Raghu’s story shows what happens to Adivasi men who organize, Suneeta’s experience lays bare the risks for women who do the same. She’s been outspoken for nearly a decade, especially around the rights of Adivasi women and girls, and police harassment has followed her every step since at least 2016.

In April 2024, plainclothes officers in Bijapur tried forcing her into a vehicle without showing any warrant. She did not give in, demanding to see proper documents, but none were produced. That moment alone tells us plenty about the methods used intimidation first, legality later, if it even comes.

Moreover, then in June, her home in Raipur was raided and she was arrested. Again, no warrant. The charges against her read like they were thrown together: murder, property damage, links to the banned CPI (Maoist). But the arrest papers made it obvious.

What really put Suneeta Pottam behind bars was her activism with MBM, her opposition to new police camps, and her pushback against state-run projects that threaten local land.

Notably, she has been in Jagdalpur prison since then. By law, her pre-trial detention should have ended on July 31, 2025. Yet she’s still locked inside. Keeping someone in jail beyond the legal limit, without trial, is not a technicality, it is a statement. It says the rules bend when activists refuse to stay quiet.

Not Isolated Cases

The stories of Midiyami and Pottam do not stand alone. Across Bastar and other Adivasi regions, anyone who speaks up is quickly labeled a Maoist or a sympathizer. That label then justifies almost anything: arrests without warrants, long lists of trumped-up charges, pre-trial detentions that stretch endlessly. Counter-insurgency language has been blurred with the language of silencing dissent, making it easier for authorities to fold activism into “security threats.”

Even the UN human rights office has called out what’s happening in Chhattisgarh, pointing to how defenders are being jailed for peaceful work. India’s Constitution promises the right to speak, organize, and assemble.

But when Adivasis try to use those rights, space shrinks fast, as if those protections do not apply equally to them.

Why It Matters

This is about more than two individuals. If peaceful resistance keeps being treated as insurgency, it erodes democracy itself. You cannot have accountability or genuine debate when anyone questioning state policy is at risk of being branded a criminal.

Additionally, there is a clear gender angle here. In addition to state repression, women like Suneeta must deal with the social consequences of deviating from conventional roles. It takes a great deal of bravery to continue in those circumstances, but it should never be at the expense of ongoing abuse or unending imprisonment.

For Adivasi communities, figures like Raghu Midiyami and Suneeta Pottam are not just leaders, they are symbols of hope and stubborn defiance. Silencing them is more than an attack on individuals.

It undermines a whole movement that has the audacity to call for responsibility and the defense of rights, culture, and land.

The current treatment of Adivasi defenders demonstrates how brittle the boundary is between “security” and outright political repression. Raghu is left in jail with untreated injuries. Months after her allotted period of detention, Suneeta is still behind bars. Due to their war against the state, neither is present. They’re there because they refused to stay silent.

India is obligated to protect individuals like them under both international law and its own Constitution. But until there is accountability, the message is blunt that dissent from the margins will be punished. And for communities already living with displacement and militarization, that’s a heavy truth to carry every day.