“Shoot the Messenger”: CASR Demands Release of Adivasi Activist Suneeta Pottam on 2nd Anniversary of Her Arrest

New Delhi- The Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) organised a public meeting at the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi, on June 3 to mark two years since the arrest of Adivasi youth activist and Moolwasi Bachao Manch (MBM) member Suneeta Pottam. Lawyers, academics, journalists, and human rights activists gathered to address the growing assault on democratic rights and civil liberties under the state-corporate nexus.

Adv. Geet Dehariya, a lawyer from Chhattisgarh currently practicing in Delhi, opened the conference by outlining Suneeta Pottam’s journey as an activist. Born in Korcholi village, an area deeply affected by Salwa Judum violence, Suneeta was forced to leave school at the age of nine after it was converted into a security camp. Despite these conditions, she began documenting and exposing state atrocities in Bastar from the age of seventeen and was completing her Class 10 education when she was arrested.

Human rights lawyer Adv. Shalini Gaira recalled working with Suneeta and her sister Munni since 2016. She described their efforts in documenting extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, displacement and police brutality, assisting villagers in filing complaints and affidavits, and accompanying fact-finding teams. She noted that although police intimidation intensified over the years, Suneeta continued her work, including presenting reports on Bastar to the NHRC in Delhi. Gaira highlighted the state’s targeting of MBM and argued that Suneeta’s criminalisation stemmed not from any falsehood in her allegations, but from her role in bringing evidence of state violence to wider public attention. She concluded by saying that the government follows a policy of “Shoot the messenger. Do not let the message get out.”

Prof. Karen Gabriel of St. Stephen’s College spoke on the broader impact of repression, noting how arrests not only criminalise individuals but devastate lives and create a climate of fear. Referring to the government’s campaign against both the “Naxalism of the pen and the gun,” she warned that the ambit of “Naxalism of the pen” is broad and vague, thereby leading to dissent itself increasingly being treated as a crime and called for resistance to corporate plunder and militarisation.

Photographer and journalist Bhumika Saraswati shared her memories and interactions with Suneeta while documenting MBM protests and the state’s atrocities in Bastar.

Adv. Kawalpreet Kaur connected Suneeta’s case to wider patterns of repression, citing the criminalisation of the Noida workers’ protests, custodial torture, and the recent abduction and torture of youth activists by Delhi Police’s Special Cell. She questioned who the state’s model of development actually serves when opposition to corporate exploitation is being branded as anti-development.

Deepika, activist at the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), discussed resistance to mining projects in Odisha’s Sijimali region and highlighted the growing use of ordinary criminal provisions to suppress democratic movements, alongside special security laws.

Former Delhi University professor Nandita Narain urged people not to remain silent in the face of injustice. She said, “People ask me ‘why are you not scared to speak up in these times?’ I think that since we are mortal beings and will die some day, we should live our life to the fullest and fight to make this world a better place.” She spoke about how the privatisation and attack on the education sector is being done to criminalise dissent, praised Suneeta’s commitment to bringing change in society, and expressed concern over the increasing use of methods such as custodial torture and enforced disappearances which mirror the tactics used by the state of Israel. She said that as a teacher she believes people like Suneeta have really understood that the true meaning of education is to fight for a better world. She ended by urging everyone to come together to fight for our rights.

The conference concluded with the screening of a short documentary on Suneeta Pottam’s life and activism. Speakers collectively demanded the immediate release of Suneeta Pottam and all human rights defenders imprisoned for opposing corporate plunder and militarisation.