NEW DELHI (Indian Catholic News) — The All India Catholic Union (AICU) says criminalising a doctor for treating people injured in police action and supporting communities asserting their constitutional rights violates core medical ethics and threatens democratic values.
The AICU, Asia’s largest association of the Catholic laity, founded in 1919, “reiterates its strongest condemnation” of the arrest and continued judicial custody of Doctor Randall Sequeira and Dalit activist Laxman Naik.
More than two weeks after they were picked up from Sequeira’s residence in Bhawanipatna, Kalahandi, Odisha, on Oct. 16, both remain in Rayagada Sub-Jail “facing grave charges of attempt to murder, rioting with deadly weapons, dacoity and provisions of the Arms Act,” according to an Nov. 2 AICU press release.
The incident is linked to Kashipur Police Station arising from the April 6-7 clash in Kantamal village over an approach road for the proposed Sijimali bauxite mine.
Neither individual was named in the original First Information Report or formal police complaint that listed 26 individuals and a category of unnamed “others”.
Their subsequent addition, late-night arrest without reported warrant or proper documentation, seizure of phones, and overnight detention without immediate access to family or lawyers “continue to raise serious questions of due process,” the AICU said.
Furthermore, reports indicate Sequeira already held anticipatory bail in a related matter, and accounts from custody describe conditions that “raise further concerns about procedural fairness”.
Healthcare in Tribal regions
Sequeira, originally from Mangaluru and raised in Mumbai, is an alumnus of the Indian Catholic bishops’ St. John’s Medical College in Bengaluru, and holds an MD in Internal Medicine from Sawai Man Singh Medical College, Jaipur.
Since 2017 he has “provided accessible healthcare-often free or low-cost-through camps and direct outreach in remote tribal settlements of Kalahandi, Rayagada and neighbouring areas, treating pregnant women, malnourished children, and patients with malaria, tuberculosis and other illnesses where government services remain scarce”.
His parents, Alex and Nancy Sequeira, travelled from Mumbai to Rayagada and have publicly demanded his release, stating that “he has done nothing wrong and was targeted for perceived sympathy with communities opposing mining”.
Hundreds of Adivasis, Dalits and members of people’s movements have gathered in Muniguda and elsewhere demanding the release of Sequeira, Laxman Naik and others.
Wider crackdown and protests
The AICU maintains that Media coverage has highlighted “the pattern of severe, non-bailable charges against those supporting resistance to bauxite mining projects involving Vedanta and Adani corporate interests in the Sijimali and Kutrumali hills”.
This occurs in Fifth Schedule areas where village council consent under Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 and the Forest Rights Act remains essential, “as underscored by the Supreme Court.”
The Fifth Schedule Areas in India are regions with large indigenous and tribal populations that receive special constitutional safeguards and administrative mechanisms under Article 244(1) of the Indian Constitution
Civil society groups including the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan and Medico Friend Circle have described the charges as fabricated and the arrests as part of a wider crackdown that has seen “dozens of cases and over a hundred people jailed in recent years”.
Demands for action
The AICU calls upon the Government of Odisha and the Union Government to:
- Ensure the immediate release of Sequeira and Naik on bail or otherwise, and the withdrawal of charges “not supported by credible evidence”.
- Order an independent review of the investigation to examine whether the arrests constitute “misuse of criminal law to intimidate those supporting tribal and Dalit rights”.
- Uphold the constitutional rights of Adivasi communities to “free, prior and informed consent regarding projects affecting their lands, forests and livelihoods”.
“The All India Catholic Union stands with Dr. Sequeira, Mr. Naik and the communities they serve. A country that honours those who heal the poor must not imprison them,” the AICU said.
Discover more from Indian Catholic News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.