Front Line is concerned following reports of the arrest of Subash Mohapatra, on 17 July 2007, in Chhattisgarh State and the subsequent judicial proceedings brought against him. Subash Mohapatra is the Director of the Forum for Fact-finding Documentation and Advocacy (FFDA), a human rights monitoring organisation based in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

On 17 July 2007, at approximately 15:50pm, officers from the Gol Bazar Police arrested Subash Mohapatra at the office of Chhatisgarh State Human Rights Commission (CSHRC), in Raipur. At the time of his arrest Subash Mohapatra was allegedly filing a response to an investigation report concerning the case of a Dalit student that the FFDA had brought to the attention of the Commission. Binod Agrwal, a clerk at CSHRC, allegedly requested that Subash Mohapatra pay a fee for filing the complaint. When Subash Mohapatra refused to pay the bribe, he was reportedly physically attacked by a group of seven staff members who allegedly detained him in the office of the Joint Secretary of the Commission for a period of 30 minutes. A short time later two police officers arrived at the office, arrested him without a warrant and took him to Gol Bazar Police Station where he was reportedly detained in a cell for a period of 3 hours before being transferred to the City Kotwali police station. He was then interrogated for alleged Naxalite connections and released on bail at 10.30 pm that evening. During his detention he was prevented from contacting his family to explain his whereabouts.

Subash Mohapatra was reportedly charged under Sections 186 (“obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions”); 353 (“assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty”); 294 (“obscene acts and songs”) and 506 (“punishment for criminal intimidation”) of the Indian Penal Code. He is expected to appear before the Judicial Magistrate Court of Raipur on 6 August 2007. Reports claim that a police investigation into the alleged acts of intimidation against Subash Mohapatra has not yet been initiated.

In his capacity as Director of FFDA, Subash Mohapatra has filed over 300 complaints to Chhattisgarh State Human Rights Commission on issues of human rights violations between 2001 and 2007. Recently, on 15 May 2007, he wrote an open letter to the acting Chairperson of the State Human Rights Commission concerning the alleged killings by State police of 12 tribal leaders from Panjer and Santoshpur villages, Bijapur District, Chhattisgarh, on 28 April 2007. Subash Mohapatra also questioned the role of the Commission in his monthly human rights review, implying that it is corrupt and ineffective.

Front Line believes that the afore-mentioned events are directly related to Subash Mohapatra's work in defence of human rights in India and in particular his recent complaint concerning the killing of 12 tribal leaders by state security.