Day after protest over forest rights, CPI(ML) Liberation claims 2 leaders arrested in UP's Mirzapur

New Delhi, Jan 3 (PTI) The Central Committee of the CPI(ML) Liberation on Saturday claimed that party leaders Sudhakar Yadav and Jeera Bharti have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Mirzapur.

In a statement issued here, the CPI(ML) Liberation condemned the "arbitrary and authoritarian arrest" of Yadav, the party's Uttar Pradesh secretary and Central Committee member, and Bharti, a member of the Uttar Pradesh state committee in Mirzapur, and demanded their immediate release.

The Left party said around 3.30 pm on Saturday, the two leaders were detained by police in the Adalhat police station area in Chunar, without any arrest warrant or giving any reason for their detention.

“It is also not known where they have been taken. Both the comrades were returning after attending the funeral of a departed comrade in Varanasi,” the party said.

Yadav and Bharti have been leading struggles in Mirzapur district to restore the rights of the Adivasis under the Forest Rights Act, stop their displacement, and withdraw "bulldozer actions", the Left party said.

“Even on early Saturday, the forest department carried out a bulldozer operation in Tendua Khurd, an Adivasi settlement in the Lalganj area of the district, in which some people were reportedly injured," the CPI(ML) Liberation claimed.

“Just a day earlier, a protest was held before the administration demanding the grant of land ownership to those who have filed claims under the Forest Rights Act, an end to the eviction of Adivasis and forest dwellers who have been living and cultivating the land for generations, and a stop to the harassment of activists by the forest department and the administration.

“Through this protest, opposition was also raised against the organised encroachment on forest land by land mafias with the connivance of the administration,” the statement said.

It quoted the state committee of the CPI(ML) Liberation, and claimed that despite assurances from the additional commissioner of the Vindhyachal Division at the commissioner's office, forest department personnel forcibly entered the Adivasi settlement at around 2 am to destroy standing crops.

“When the villagers protested, they were attacked, and the women were misbehaved with. This happened even though the additional commissioner of the Vindhyachal Division had assured that no bulldozer action would be carried out.

“Standing crops are being destroyed forcibly without any notice or prior information,” the statement said, demanding immediate release of both the party leaders and an immediate halt to the “bulldozer action”. PTI AO ARI