Rooplal Baiga

Activist

Madhya Pradesh

Mr. Rooplal Baiga (58) is a resident of Kurmitheel village. The HRD belongs to the Baiga community- a primitive tribe group- protected under the Prevention of SC/ST Atrocities Act. He has been associated with community organisations which work towards the rights of Adivasi communities in MP. Human Rights Defenders Alert issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission over the negligence by police officials of Madhya Pradesh following a brutal physical assault on the HRD. 

The HRD’s village faces an issue of fly ash which is being transported through the village. The fly ash deposits on people’s houses and farms. On December 26, 2021, at around 11 pm, Mr. Baiga was going to tend to his field, when he was first verbally abused by three men. When he responded to the abuses and told them to stop, they held him down and beat him with a stick and broke both his legs and his left arm. On December 27, 2021, when the HRD’s family approached the police station to file a complaint, the inspector in charge did not register an FIR and instead insinuated that the HRD had received injuries due to an accident.

We believe that the local police have put the HRD and his family in danger of reprisals in the future from the accused. We also feel that the accused may interfere with the investigation by intimidating and harassing the HRD further. 

We, therefore, urged the Hon’ble Commission to direct the Director General of Police of Madhya Pradesh to submit a detailed report on the delay in registering FIR by police officials of Ghansore police station, against the three accused Depending on the result of the investigation, recommend urgent actions against police officials of Ghansour police station, including in accordance with Section 4 of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, for willful negligence in registering FIR.