Statement against the attack on Leo Saldanha, Dr. Lakshmi Nilakandan and Environmental Support Group

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We the following organisations and individuals express our deep shock at the highly irresponsible charges made by the Karnataka State Forest Department against social activist/researcher Leo Saldanha and his wife Dr. Lakshmi Nilakantan, a mathemetician. Charges against the accused include sandalwood smuggling, forest encroachment and other fabricated offences. We are also deeply concerned over attempts to arrest Leo Saldanha and mandhandle Dr. Lakshmi by the Karnataka Police and the Forest Department. We feel that this is a part of an alarming trend where social activists are being attacked by State officials with blatant abuse of power, in clear contempt and disregard of Constitutional provisions requiring them to be custodians of human rights.


The Karnataka State Forest Department have charged Leo and Lakshmi with the most serious provisions of the Karnataka Forest Act for daring to protest against their brutal destruction of art and cultural products that children of The Valley School and leading artists from all over the world have contributed to over three decades. They had also questioned the way the operation was carried out by the Forest Department to 'recover forest land' that the school had allegedly encroached upon, with heavy machinery and over a 100 forest and police officials, without even a single police woman.


Environment Support Group and its Coordinator Leo Saldanha have stood up against a range of socially and ecologically destructive development projects for many years. Their involvement was instrumental in exposing and stopping the economically and environmentally disastrous Cogentrix power plant, a decade ago. In recent years, they have consistently brought to public attention a variety of illegalities in the highly controversial Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project. This has enraged the proponents of the Corridor project, the ESG team members and students were physically attacked last October by the Managing Director of the NICE company and some of his men. Instead of initiating action against the attackers, the Karnataka State Police, disregarding appeals for effective intervention from its Human Rights Cell, have given a quiet burial to the FIR lodged by Leo Saldanha within days of the Forest Department making the sandalwood charges.


We therefore demand that:

1.The charges made by the Forest Department against Lakshmi Nilakantan and Leo Saldanha must be dropped and strong action initiated against the officials who abused power to vilify them,
2.A detailed independent enquiry must be initiated into the operation to 'recover forest land' in The Valley School and the manner in which the operation was conducted in clear violation and contempt of the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India on undertaking such missions,
3.An independent enquiry be initiated into the wanton destruction of art and cultural products that children of The Valley School and leading artists from all over the world have contributed to over three decades,
4.Immediate compensation must be provided for the destruction art and cultural products, and
5.The case of physical attack on the ESG Team by the proponents of the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project must be reopened and investigated thoroughly and action initiated against the concerned police officials who closed the investigation.

Initial Endorsements
1. South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring(SICHREM)
2. INSAF
3. National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (NFFPFW)
4. The Other Media
5. Samarthan
6. River Basin Friends
7. Corporate Accountability Desk, Chennai
8. Visual Search, Bangalore

271 Signatures

  • Anivar Aravind
    • Organisation
    • movingrepublic
  • Shweta Narayan,
    • Organisation
    • Community Environmental Monitoring, Chennai
  • Madhumita Dutta
    • Organisation
    • The Other Media
  • Jeny Dolly Anthony
    • Organisation
    • Youth for Social Change, Chennai
  • Nityanand Jayaraman
    • Organisation
    • Corporate Accountability Desk Collective, Chennai
  • Rachna Dhingra
    • Organisation
    • Bhopal Group for Information and Action
  • Satinath Sarangi
    • Organisation
    • International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, Bhopal
  • Don Anton
    • Organisation
    • Senior Lecturer in Law, Australian National University, Australia.
  • T.S.S.Mani
    • Organisation
    • H.R.Activist cum Media person, PUCL-TN-Puducherry.
  • Himanshu Thakka
    • Organisation
    • South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People, Delhi.
  • umesh varma pakalapati
  • Ramesh Agrawal
    • Organisation
    • Jan Chetana, Raigarh (C.G.)
  • Umesh Varma.P
    • Organisation
    • Forum for a Better Hyderabad
  • Michael M
    • Organisation
    • PSS
  • Swati Desai
  • divya
    • Organisation
    • В
    • Comments
    • В
  • john bosco
    • Organisation
    • FIAN Karnataka and ASHRAYA
  • Advocate Siji Malayil
    • Organisation
    • Bangalore
  • Subramanya Sastry
    • Comments
    • В
  • Danielle Andrade
    • Organisation
    • Jamaica Environment Trust
    • Comments
    • These baseless charges should be dropped. This is sending a very negative message to the international community
  • V.S.Sreedhara
  • Elsa Nivia
    • Organisation
    • RAPALMIRA (Colombia)
  • Carla Ofelia Garcia Zendejas
    • Organisation
    • Environmental Attorney, Mexico
  • Edwin
    • Organisation
    • OpenSpace
    • Comments
    • В
  • SHYAMPRASAD
    • Organisation
    • ANDHRA PRADESH HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
    • Comments
    • Immediately drop all the baseless charges
  • Piyush
    • Organisation
    • Speak Out Salem
    • Comments
    • I hope this helps.... deaf & dumb govt ...
  • I. Karunatilake
    • Organisation
    • Center for Torture Victims
  • kt jaidip
    • Organisation
    • Individual
    • Comments
    • I Urge the CM to take immediate action
  • Balachandran Ramachandran
    • Comments
    • All baseless charges should be dropped asap.
  • Brinda Adige,
    • Organisation
    • Global Concerns India
  • Binny
  • Elavarthi Manohar
    • Organisation
    • Aneka, Bangalore
    • Comments
    • В
  • mahesh pandya
    • Organisation
    • PARYAVARANMITRA
    • Comments
    • В
  • Meenakshi Raman
    • Organisation
    • Friends of the Earth, Malaysia
  • Theivanai Amarthalingam
  • Pradeep T.S
    • Organisation
    • Samuha
  • S Ramani
  • Dr R Balaji
    • Organisation
    • Individual
    • Comments
    • Please restore some semblance of justice to our nation
  • Jagadish Chandra
    • Organisation
    • New Socialist Alternative
    • Comments
    • It is a shame that social activists are picked up and branded in this despicable fashion, Conduct an independent community inclusive inquiry,drop the charges, appologise and arrest errand forest and police officials.
  • vamsi krishna nadella
  • Manohar.R
    • Organisation
    • SICHREM
    • Comments
    • This buisness of the governemnet in trying to put off activists should stop.
  • kranthi
  • Vinayaka Prasad.G.R.
    • Organisation
    • В
    • Comments
    • В
  • Anand Kumar
    • Organisation
    • New Socialist Alternative
  • M. V. Ramana
  • Shobha Rani
    • Organisation
    • Individual
    • Comments
    • Such base tactics from officials of the Government speaks ill for a nation such as ours.
  • Geeta Menon
    • Organisation
    • Stree Jagruti Samiti
    • Comments
    • Condemn state autocracy and state lawlessness.There is lots more to do than pursuing human rights activists.The real criminals are sc ot free.
  • Pradeep Esteves
    • Organisation
    • В
    • Comments
    • Stop high handedness at all costs.
  • Dr.P.N.Rao
    • Organisation
    • Society For Environment & Education
  • Ananth Chikkatur
    • Organisation
    • Harvard University