Release Upendra Nayak

The Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) condemns the arrest of peoples’ advocate Upendra Nayak by the Paralakhemundi police in Odisha, on the night of 20 February 2018. Nayak was produced before the Mohana, Gajapati ­judicial magistrate on 21 February, and subsequently sent to R Udayagiri jail. Shockingly, he has been arrested in connection to 10 criminal cases, under serious charges like sedition, waging war against the state, and under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), wherein he himself was the advocate defending the accused.

Nayak is more than 65 years of age and a regular legal practitioner in the courts of Gajapati, one of the southern districts in Odisha, where Adivasis constitute 51% of the population. Nayak has been defending innocent tribals of Gajapati, who have been arrested in fabricated cases, as part of anti-Maoists operations. All these cases were registered in 2009 and 2010, in which he successfully defended a number of innocents, including Arati Majhi, Pasanti Patamijhi, Munita Lakshmi, with all the trials ending in acquittals.