In response to the peaceful and democratic protests of citizens who oppose the Jaitapur nuclear park, the police have retaliated with undue brutality.  Officers have attacked, beaten, and shot activists.  One man was killed and many others injured by police actions.  This fearful repression of activists and their views opposing the nuclear plant not only poses a physical danger to them but also constitutes a violation of their democratic, civil and human rights.

On 18 April 2011, police "cracked down" violently on different Jaitapur arrests.  After they opened fire, eight people were injured and another man was killed.   The police violence inspired renewed resistance against the Jaitapur project as well as against the police brutality and in consequence, a curfew is imposed around the Jaitapur site.  Disturbingly, the widow of the activist who was killed claims that her husband's autopsy showed two more bullet wounds than he had received when he was shot at the site.  This claim provoked allegations that the police who transferred him in an ambulance continued their assault against him.  Not long after this needlessly violent incident, on 1 March 2011, police arrested 18 Jaitapur activists who were protesting the nuclear plant.

The government and its police force have been enforcing the Bombay Police Act, 1951 Sec 37(1)(3) which prohibits the public gathering of more than five people.(1)  This is a clear and systematic suppression of the civil rights of those Jaitapur activists who are raising their voices to defend their homes and their communities. 

In addition, scores of activists have been arrested time and again (see our Timeline of Protests) and charged with absurd crimes, ranging from dacoity to attempted murder. In one such case, a frail 70-year-old diabetic, Shriram Dhondo Paranjape, was charged with pelting stones at the police, though he plainly couldn’t have even stooped to lift a pebble. He was detained for 15 days. These arrests have not even all taken place at the scenes of the alleged crimes - in one case, 18 protestors were arrested retributively months after the protest in which they were said to have participated illegally.