On 16 Oct around 11 pm, Odisha police picked up Dr Randall Sequeira and Laxman Naik without a warrant. Phones seized. Held overnight with no access to lawyers or family. Neither is named in the FIR. Dr Sequeira treats Adivasis in these hills. Laxman Naik is a Dalit leader of the Maa Mati Mali Surakhya Manch. They now face attempt to murder, dacoity and Arms Act charges. Bail refused. Courts are on vacation until 27 October. This is Fifth Schedule land. Kondh, Paraja and Dalit families have said no — these hills feed their streams, fields and the Indravati river. The Supreme Court upheld the same principle of gram sabha consent at Niyamgiri in 2013. The state’s answer so far: 43 police cases and more than 100 people jailed in three years. Every day these two spend in Rayagada jail is a warning to every village that resists. Defending jal-jangal-jameen is not a crime. Release Dr Randall Sequeira and Laxman Naik. #JalJangalZameen #AdivasiRights #FifthSchedule @aruna_sekhar @Prafulla1951 @Countercurrents @MaktoobMedia @RahulGandhi @INCOdisha @gutta_rohith @Jairam_Ramesh

My dear friends, please, I hope to demand your absolute attention to this matter: In 2018, my junior from St. John’s Medical College, Bengaluru, Dr. Randall Sequeira (middle in the pic), trekked up a steep, bauxite-rich plateau in Odisha to hold a monsoon health camp in the indigenous Kutiya Kondh village of Kutrumali. In a piece he wrote then titled "Kutrumali’s Demons," Randall described sleeping under a dripping school roof in freezing fog, borrowing utensils from a local health worker to cook khichdi, and waking up at 6 AM to a line of tribal mothers. He wrote with heartbreak about treating malnourished toddlers with protruding bellies and visible ribs, listening to stories of stillbirths and chronic fevers, while noticing the shiny new solar lights installed by a mining conglomerate eyeing the aluminium ore beneath the villagers' feet. Comparing his small medical team to hobbits sheltering in the night, Randall worried about the outside forces coming for that fragile village. Randall stayed with the tribal/ adivasi community to serve them. After St. John’s and an MD in Internal Medicine from SMS Jaipur, he gave up every comfort of urban medicine to live in Kalahandi, recognizing that clinical prescriptions are meaningless when indigenous communities are stripped of their forests, water, and dignity. On the night of October 16, Odisha police picked up Dr. Randall Sequeira and Dalit activist Laxman Naik at 11 PM from his home in Bhawanipatna. A gentle physician who has spent years trekking up hills to save tribal children is now locked in Rayagada sub-jail under frivolous but draconian charges (attempt to murder, dacoity), simply for standing with Adivasis peaceful protesting the mining of their sacred hills in Sijimali and Kutrumali. thewire.in/rights/randall-se… Odisha Govt. said it will cut down forests to connect tribal villages. But it was a way to bypass green laws and fast track London based Vedanta’s, and Adani's mining plans. Local organisations estimate that around 45 villages depend on these hills and would be affected. reporters-collective.in/trc/… The state has answered with repression rather than dialogue. In the last three years, at least 43 police cases have been filed and over a hundred Adivasis and Dalits, both women and men, have been incarcerated in Odisha jails. For example, from In March and april 2026, 8, 2026, to April 8, 2026, within one month, 24 people were sent to jail, 217 were made accused, and the number of “others” total 1,140. An activist who was not named in the original FIRs, but has since been implicated in about 12 cases, so that bail in one case is followed by arrest in another. This pattern of capture and releases have been used to crush rational dissent. Dr. Randall understood that being a good doctor means understanding that prescriptions cannot compensate for the denial of land rights, that surgery cannot undo displacement and that no medical can substitute for the basic infrastructure a government has failed to provide. thehindu.com/sci-tech/health… To my fellow medical fraternity, and every citizen with a conscience: a kind physician who embodies the highest ethics of our profession is being criminalized to clear the way for bauxite mining. Please do not let his voice be buried in a sub-jail. Amplify this, demand due process, and demand the immediate release. Please sign in this form to show solidarity: forms.gle/o2Rj2Uu3tXaoWu9dA If anyone can help out in this situation please reach out to Medico Friend Circle - mfcindia.org/

Two men who punched a minor girl then dragged her onto the road, continued to hit her, and ripped her t-shirt got bail within 24 hours. Meanwhile, remand extended for two guys who waved the tricolour. 🤷‍♂️

OMG what did I just hear!😂 Epic response from AAP MP Sanjay Singh on 'regime change' controversy. "toh kya hum yahan modi ji ki birthday party manaane aaye hain, kitty party karne aaye hain? Vote chor ko satta se jaana hi chahiye"

State surveillance meets citizen software. They removed the name plates. He built the recognition. This Gen Z innovator just did what the system refuses to: made accountability possible. While Delhi Police deploys facial recognition on protesters (and produces lists full of people who were literally in jail), and officers quietly drop their name plates to stay anonymous during crackdowns, a young developer built an open-source FRT tool that works the other way — identifying officers filmed brutalizing protesters, especially women. No name plate? No problem. The tool estimates matches from open data and public footage. Misconduct is not “fair,” and hiding behind a uniform doesn’t erase what cameras already captured. This is citizen technology flipping the surveillance script. When the state uses AI to watch the people, the people can use AI to watch back. Open-source means anyone can build on it, audit it, and improve it — no permission required. Respect to this kid. So proud of him. Accountability doesn’t need a badge. It needs tools and the will to use them. #PoliceAccountability #GenZ #FacialRecognition #DelhiPolice #RightToProtest #OpenSource

ওড়িশায় বিজেপি বিরোধী মিছিলে জন জোয়ার।

Flag unfurling in CP despite huge numbers of police and paramilitaries. ‘Bal Narendra and 56 inch ka Chhota 🐵’ slogans in the air. @jahnavi_sen @thewire_in @thewirehindi

From the morning I am remembering Haren Pandya again & again. Pandya had flown to Mumbai to what turned out to be his last interview with me. He kept telling me on air & in the make up room “Swati they will kill me”. I kept scoffing saying this is India will never happen. Now I see Delhi turning in to the Gujarat model. When Pandya was shot exactly a month later I was shocked for weeks

Looks like Indian Express will single handedly take down the govt 🙌 They are now exposing another case of apparent corruption Where govt owned missile manufacturing company BDL awarded a contract to a private company WITHOUT any competition AND to top it all to a company owned by the wife of the ex chief of BDL 🤯 If this turns out to be true, then we are possibly looking at a situation where the rot is far deeper than what meets the eye In the name of Pakistan and Religion to win elections after elections, a lot seems to have been compromised I just wonder, has the leadership lost control and can’t rein in the independent fiefdoms that have sprung up in every corner of the country ? Is it beyond their control ? Or is it a deliberate choice to be so ? I don’t have an answer What do you think 🙏 But, amidst all this India and Indians definitely need some ideas to heal 🙏🙏