Post Arrest of 21 Villagers of Talampadar, Kalahandi

https://countercurrents.org/2026/05/kalahandi-arrests-tribal-resistance-and-the-human-cost-of-development/

https://countercurrents.org/2026/05/kalahandi-arrests-tribal-resistance-and-the-human-cost-of-development/

Post Arrest of 21 Villagers of Talampadar, Kalahandi

—

The arrest of 21 villagers from Talampadar in Thuamul Rampur, Kalahandi, and their custodial confinement for more than two months, appears to me as a stark demonstration of the power of the privileged over the powerless. A democracy that does not ensure equal access to justice and dignity for all its citizens risks becoming a mockery of the very principles on which it stands.

On 11 March 2026, a group of villagers allegedly attacked a person who was believed to have acted against the interests of the village and in support of a bauxite company reportedly backed by sections of the administration and police. The incident resulted in a head injury and bleeding. However, the reasons and circumstances surrounding the conflict have not been adequately documented or publicly discussed.

Following the FIR, the police arrested 21 persons based on available evidence, the truthfulness and validity of which will ultimately be determined during the course of the trial. As an advocate representing the arrested villagers, I wish to raise certain concerns and reflections regarding the consequences of these arrests and the larger issues involved.

Keeping individuals in custody for 68 days and nights without clearly establishing individual accountability raises serious questions concerning natural justice and the principles of jurisprudence.

The prolonged detention of breadwinners from forest-dwelling families inflicts severe hardship upon their households. While society continues with its routines under the relief of summer holidays and adjusted schedules, these families endure uncertainty, deprivation, and suffering.

Such prolonged incarceration, before guilt is established in a court of law, appears to be an additional form of suffering imposed upon vulnerable communities within a democratic system.

While no individual has the right to take the law into their own hands, the law itself must not be misused merely on the basis of suspicion or one-sided allegations before guilt is conclusively established.

The repeated arrests and continued confinement also reflect a deeper concern that the voices and grievances of marginalized communities are often unheard or dismissed.

The role and intentions of corporations, middlemen, political interests, and sections of the administration are rarely examined with equal scrutiny, whereas the resistance of poor, tribal, and marginalized communities receives immediate criminal attention.

The history of development in India — particularly in mining regions inhabited by Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes — reveals a painful pattern where the benefits of development are often enjoyed by others while the losses are borne by indigenous communities. Whether intentional or structural, the reality remains that displacement, environmental destruction, and cultural erosion disproportionately affect tribal populations across mining zones in India.

As the advocate for these 21 arrested persons in the District Court of Kalahandi — where nine women have received bail while the bail applications of eleven men were rejected — I feel personally wounded. Being a son of Kalahandi myself, I recognize how generations of people from the plains and towns have benefited from the forests, rivers, climate, and natural wealth of regions such as Thuamul Rampur, Lanjigarh, and Kashipur in present-day Rayagada.

For generations, communities living in valleys and towns have consumed and benefited from products brought by tribal and Dalit communities from the hills — (kandul dal)arhar dal, (kardi) bamboo shoots, forest honey, green leaves, mushrooms, wild fruits, and many other natural resources. There was a time when places like Thuamul Rampur, Lanjigarh, and Kashipur were considered remote and difficult postings for government employees. Schools and offices functioned irregularly due to poor roads, remoteness, lack of housing, and absence of basic infrastructure.

When Self-Help Groups were initially introduced, many women were hesitant even to sit together on mats or speak openly with facilitators. Goods and agricultural products were sold at extremely low prices. Poultry, dairy, and agricultural products were abundant, natural, and affordable. Society enjoyed these resources while remaining largely disconnected from the lives and struggles of the people producing them.

The forests and hills of these regions were once filled with wildlife — sambars, wild boars, deer, elephants, monkeys, and countless birds — moving freely across the landscape. Stories and real incidents of hunting expeditions by royal families and elites remained common until the 1990s.

People in these areas lived with fewer clothes, fewer words, smaller homes, and without proper sanitary facilities for many years. People from urban areas have often looked down upon them. In spite of this, it is widely believed — and indeed a historical reality — that they are the original inhabitants of the district.

Manikeswari was originally their goddess, believed to have been located at Thuamul Rampur. Niyamgiri Hills, Sijimali, and other hills are revered by them as sacred embodiments of gods and goddesses. I too believe that it is part of human nature — since pre-scientific times — to regard elements of nature such as the sun, moon, wind, and rivers as divine, much like pantheistic traditions of worship. In the same way, these hills, being their source of livelihood and sustenance, are naturally regarded as their gods and goddesses.

However, with the discovery and commercialization of bauxite and mineral resources in these regions, the interests of governments, corporations, contractors, and political actors increasingly overshadow the emotions, traditions, faith, and livelihoods of tribal and Dalit communities. Development is often presented as inevitable, while the displaced are expected to silently bear its costs.

Had Kalahandi been a princely state, as it was before Independence and for a brief period thereafter, perhaps today the Government of India would have approached Kalahandi in the same way it has approached Kashmir in the interest of the nation. We, the people of Kalahandi, with our distinct identity in language (Kalahandia), food habits (mud bhat), traditional attire (kapta, dhoti, lungi), music (muhuri, madal, nisan, dom bazar, and ghumra), folk songs (on hills, waterfalls, streams, agriculture, marriage, birth, and death, each with its own rhythm), festivals (Lakh Bindga, Jieta, Cherchera, Puni, Chhitra, Podha Puja, Jue Madam, etc.), cereals and pulses (mandua, kulath, gurji, kodo, etc.), traditional dishes (purga, santula, kasha, parjha, etc.), and marriage customs (maga, jacha, biha, ghicha, and pala), would have contributed our unique heritage to the nation of India..

The true inhabitants of Kalahandi - The Kalahandias continue to struggle with the gradual erosion of their originality and heritage hidden within their soil, forests, culture, and collective memory.

In this context, the arrest and prolonged confinement of tribal and Dalit villagers protesting displacement, mining expansion, and infrastructure projects without meaningful local consent raises serious concerns regarding human rights, constitutional morality, and democratic ethics.

Movements and protests may be suppressed through institutional power, but the grief, pain, and memories carried by ordinary people cannot easily be erased. The events unfolding today in the soil of Kalahandi will continue to speak to future generations about both the gains and the losses of development — about progress, sacrifice, displacement, and the human cost borne by the vulnerable.

A nation may build roads, railways, industries, and grand infrastructure that captivate the eyes of the world. Yet history will continue to ask whether the unconsented exploitation of natural resources, the destruction of ecological beauty, and the displacement of indigenous communities can ever truly be justified or forgotten.