New Delhi: At 11 pm on October 16, medical doctor and community health organiser Randall Sequeira and Dalit activist Laxman Naik, a martial artist by training, were picked up by a group of police officers from Sequeira’s home in Kalahandi. They were not given access to their lawyers, nor were they allowed to speak to their family members. While they were presented to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate as participants in a clash instigated by police repression — where residents of Kantamal village were tear gassed and lathi charged. The retaliation led to injuries on both sides. But, Sequeira and Naik are not mentioned in the FIR, according to a statement by the Medico Friend Circle, a network of doctors and health practitioners, and a report in Ground Xero. The duo are currently housed in the Rayagada sub-jail, and the police has unfurled a legion of severe charges: attempt to murder, rioting armed with a deadly weapon, dacoity or armed robbery, criminal intimidation by threatening to cause death or grievous hurt. Their incarceration is the latest in a string of arrests as part of the Odisha state government’s attempt to quell the peaceful protests by Dailt and Adivasi people, who are fighting to preserve their natural resources, the very axis on which their world spins. The protests are being spearheaded by the Maa Mati Maala Surakhya Manch, and have taken shape through sit-ins, padyatras, and vigils. Sequeira had also participated in a few protests – part of his larger endeavour for social justice. Randall Sequeira (left) and Laxman Naik.Randall Sequeira’s work in KalahandiAfter growing up in Mumbai and completing his MBBS at St. Johns College in Bengaluru, Randall Sequeira diverged from the ordinary. For over half a decade, he has been living in Kalahandi, a verdant, mineral-rich district in Southern Odisha, where has been immersed in the Adivasi people’s struggle against an existential threat: bauxite mining by the Vedanta group in the forests Sijimali, and the Adani Group in Kutrumalli. Sequieria’s work as a community health organiser is rooted in rewriting what it means to be healthy; a study in how conceptions of health are inextricable from the social determinants that sculpt them. He realised that one hallmark of clinical treatment – the prescription – needs to be treated as an afterthought. A prescription is entirely ineffectual if there is no access to human rights – to clean air, water, and nourishing food. Mining-affected communities are prone to a slew of diseases brought on by pollution and the poisoning of their water bodies and food sources, whereas displacement is also accompanied by its own set of health challenges. “For his work on social determinants, he built a home in Kalahandi. He stopped his practice, and he became a full-time movement worker,” said Nilesh Mohite, a close friend of Sequeira’s. “For the last five to six years, he’d been working to understand tribal communities, their cultures.”Mohite described Sequeira as a good listener, someone who was curious about people and the world at large. He is an avid reader with an interest in anthropology and cultural studies. “He is one of those people who gets along with everyone. He can hold his own with those considered highly intellectual and academic, as well as the poorest of the poor,” he said. Originally from Mangaluru, Sequiera’s parents continue to reside in Mumbai, where he grew up. “I firmly believe that my son is fighting for the rights and dignity of the Adivasi people. As an MD in Internal Medicine serving the districts of Kalahandi and Rayagada, he has dedicated himself to his profession and to the people who need him. I pray that the truth will prevail and that justice will be done,” said his mother, Nancy Sequeira in a statement. “I want to let him know that his parents are with him.” ‘Jal, Jangal, Jameen’Since the anti-mining resistance began in 2023, the government has arrested over a hundred Dalit and Adivasi people, while 43 cases have been filed. They follow a template of severe charges that are typically non-bailable in nature. ”There is a powerful state-corporate nexus that is paving the way for bauxite mining. To help the corporations. They make full use of the criminal justice system and foist many criminal cases to intimidate and terrorise Adivasi and Dalit communities,” explained Ranjana Padhi, a feminist researcher who works extensively in Odisha. “No protective legislation is left untouched by the mining lobby and the district administration is aiding only Vedanta and Adani. So, all activists supporting the people who do not want our mountains razed forever by bauxite greed are a big threat to the state.”Also read: At Niyamgiri, Policing is Paving the Way for MiningShe asserted that, ultimately, what Sequeira is committed to is the protection of the natural world, and that the state deploys its machinery to delegitimise the movement and “the huge support base” it has garnered. Padhi also mentioned that the movement has been criminalised despite its basic, constitutionally guaranteed demands: the implementation of the Forest Rights Act and the PESA. In accordance with the FRA, in 2023, local people set up gram sabhas – where bauxite mining was firmly and unanimously rejected. But, they claim that they were coerced into acquiescence in the presence of armed security forces. The case is currently being contested in the Orissa high court.Multiple rights groups have expressed solidarity with and demanded the release of Sequeira and Naik.“We demand justice in these cases, the immediate release of Lingraj Azad, and an end to the harassment of activists and people’s movements. The fight for the right to food cannot be separated from the fight against displacement, dispossession and injustice,” said the Right to Food in a statement. Azad is a Dalit activist who was arrested in March, and is an intrinsic part of the struggle for ‘jal, jangal, jameen.’The Human Rights Forum has similarly condemned the arrests. “Dr Sequeira’s arrest is particularly disturbing. A person who has worked to make healthcare accessible to people resident in remote areas is now being treated as a criminal for his association with a struggle for Adivasi rights. Clearly, such action is intended to send a message to those who stand in solidarity with marginalised Adivasis and Dalits, document their difficulties and support their resistance that they too risk facing the coercive power of the state,” it said.