The Assam government on Thursday invoked the National Security Act (NSA) against activist Pranab Doley to ensure his continued detention after a sessions court ordered his release on bail in connection with his arrest over protesting against a luxury hotel project close to Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR).
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“In matters where ecological preservation intersects with indigenous survival, the standard apparatus of criminal law cannot be used to suppress local anxieties. True public order is achieved not by silencing the affected, but by listening to them,” the judge said, ordering his release on submission of a ₹20,000 surety.
But in a communication received on Friday, the Assam government, citing police records and intelligence inputs, noted that there were 13 criminal cases against him.
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Doley, along with another activist, was arrested on July 12 after he led protests at Ingle Pathar, a village located near KNPTR, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world’s largest habitat for the endangered one-horned rhino, against proposed construction of a luxury hotel. The Assam government announced in 2023 that a luxury hotel will be constructed at Kaziranga.
Police said Doley trespassed into the site of the tea tribes museum and the hotel project being executed by a private company and the state-run Assam Tourism Development Corporation, damaged property and assaulted police personnel.
Granting him bail on July 29, additional sessions judge Nur Muhammad Abdullah Ahmed of Golaghat district noted that the investigating officer had already recorded statements of witnesses and there was no likelihood of the accused tampering with evidence or fleeing since his passport was in the custody of the police.
“The present dispute arises from a deep-rooted anxiety regarding environmental degradation and its impact on the socio-cultural fabric of the local tea tribes,” the court order said.
“It has also been reported that you have been found to be involved in various activities starting from road blockages to damage of public properties with an intent to create lawlessness for your personal and vested interests,” the communication said. HT has reviewed the letter.
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It also alleged that Doley had indulged in “suspicious foreign transactions from doubtful sources” in violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), and referred to ₹4.5 lakhs in forex transactions between 2018 and 2025, and his 14 visits to foreign countries between 2017 and 2026
“It is therefore considered essential to prevent you from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the state or from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order by detaining you under Section 3(2) of the National Security Act, 1980,” the letter by the home and political department said.
