Arrest of Indigenous Activist: Assam police arrested Pranab Doley, a Mising community land rights activist and convenor of the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee, for allegedly organizing a protest against a public-private tourism project (including a Hyatt luxury hotel) near Kaziranga National Park that involved reclassification of community and agricultural land.

International Condemnation: Multiple global indigenous rights organizations (including Survival International, IWGIA, and UN experts) and local civil society groups have demanded Doley’s immediate release, framing the arrest as an attempt to criminalize peaceful advocacy for indigenous land rights and environmental protection.

Conflicting Perspectives: The Assam government defends the project as a source of jobs and tourism development on government land, while critics argue it displaces indigenous families, lacks proper consultation, and prioritizes commercial interests over community rights and the ecological sensitivity of the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Unusual global concerns surfaced soon after Assam police personnel arrested a prominent Asomiya land rights activist while protesting against a public-private partnership tourism venture near the world famous Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve. Assam government recently allotted around 30 bighas of land for the project comprising a five-star luxury hotel belonging to the US-based Hyatt Group and a tea tribe heritage museum at Inglay/Inle Pathar near the UNESCO world heritage site, which sparked the debate followed by protest demonstrations.

Covering around 1,300 square kilometres, the Kaziranga forest reserve gives shelter to the highest number of one-horned rhinoceros in the world along with other wildlife including Bengal tiger, Asiatic elephants, buffaloes, etc. The particular land, also known as Hati Pathar (playground of elephants) allotted to Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) was reclassified allegedly without proper public consultations to the indigenous families, which had been cultivating there for generations. The opposing voices claimed that more than 60 bighas of agricultural and community grazing land were reclassified in recent years.

A number of international rights bodies have sought an urgent and unconditional release of indigenous land rights activist Pranab Doley, who........

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