Several activist organisations, under the aegis of Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch, staged a day-long protest near Raj Bhavan on Tuesday and then submitted a memorandum to the Governor's secretariat to seek his intervention to stop rampant human rights violations and atrocities on poor tribals and marginalized sections of society.

Notwithstanding the ouster of the former BJP-led state government by the Hemant Soren-led coalition government in 2019, the activists _ economist Jean Dreze was among them _ rued that the plight of adivasis and Dalits had not improved and that the oppressive attitude of police and security forces had not changed.

They also accused the state of keeping its eyes closed to illegal mining and the subsequent damage to local ecology by the mining mafia in connivance with district officials.

Dreze said, “People have gathered here today from different places to ask the government about its commitment to human rights. We are also demanding withdrawal of all Pathalgadi cases and removal of CRPF camps from schools. The government has created an atmosphere of fear in the name of security and is doing injustice with the people in the name of justice.

Activists and villagers from districts stage a demonstration near Raj Bhavan in Ranchi on Tuesday The Telegraph Picture

In its memorandum to the governor, the manch cited over a dozen instances of violations and atrocities against the poor and their struggle for justice in the face of government apathy

The memorandum highlighted how a false case was filed against a poor villager named Sanjay Manjhi of Gomia in Bokaro in December last year. Sanjay’s son, Sunil, who was also present at the protest, said, “My father was falsely implicated in an earlier case of a Maoist incident in which he got a notice for attachment of property. Even though he had neither fled nor had any association with the Maoist party, police are now threatening to attach our property claiming that my father is an absconder.”

Lal Mohan Khairwar of Latehar said that on June 12 last year, 24-year-old Brahmdev Singh was killed by security forces in Piri village in Garu after claiming he was a naxal. “Later, it turned out that he was an innocent civilian. Till date, no FIR had been registered against the security forces. Neither has the victim’s family received any compensation even though the National Human Rights Commission had taken cognizance of the case. The matter is now in Jharkhand High Court,” he said.

Praful Linda of Adivasi Adhikar Manch said, “It is unfortunate that like the previous government, the current government is also continuing to lodge cases under UAPA as a result of which innocent villagers are suffering.”