ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh-based anti-dam activist and lawyer Bhanu Tatak was stopped Sunday from boarding a flight to Dublin from Delhi after immigration authorities acted on a look out circular (LOC) linking her to two pending police cases in her native state, one for alleged criminal trespass and the other for defacement of a mural at the civil secretariat.Bhanu, legal adviser of Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum, was to travel to Ireland for a three-month academic course at Dublin City University starting next Tuesday, sources said.Amid allegations that she was being harassed for her anti-BJP govt stand, Arunachal Pradesh police clarified that the LOC against her was specifically for the twin cases registered at Itanagar police station and had nothing to do with her opposition to the Siang dam project.The first case dates back to 2021, when Bhanu allegedly barged into Itanagar’s BB Plaza mall for a protest.The next year, police accused her of “financing” an alleged act of vandalism targeting the “Wall of Harmony” mural at the secretariat. Assam artist Nilim Mahanta and local activist Ebo Mili were named as co-accused in the case, with investigators saying they had found evidence of Bhanu transferring funds for the act of vandalism.Arunachal Pradesh Youth Congress issued a statement condemning what it termed “state govt’s high-handedness”, saying Bhanu couldn’t have been stopped from boarding an international flight based on two police cases that were more than three years old.“This is in response to her role in leading protests against the proposed 11,500-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project,” it said. “This is another fabricated case to silence dissent… Such a mischievous act won’t yield fruit as we are living in a democratic county, where every individual’s right must be respected.”PTI quoted Arunachal Pradesh IGP (law and order) Chukhu Apa as saying that Bhanu had “10 to 12 cases” registered against her over the past few years for allegedly inciting violence in the name of protests, including leading mobs and urging women protesters to confront a cabinet minister.
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