STATEMENT/PRESS RELEASE

6 October 2019

South Asian People’s Action on the Climate Crisis (SAPACC) unequivocally condemns the detention of 29 protesters opposing the destruction of the Aarey forests in northern Mumbai on 5 October. Those detained include students from TISS, activists, and other concerned Mumbaikars. It also includes members of the Bhoomi Sena and Yuva Bharat, constituent organisations of SAPACC.

We cannot fathom the unseemly haste with which hundreds of trees were chopped down in the dead of night. This action by the Mumbai metro authorities was carried out immediately after a two-judge bench of the Bombay High Court dismissed multiple petitions filed by environmental organisations seeking a legal stay on the destruction of 2,646 trees in Aarey. By cutting down the trees, the metro authorities have undermined the authority of both the Supreme Court of India and the National Green Tribunal (NGT), where this matter is currently pending.

SAPACC also condemns the detention of the 29 protesters and their remand to judicial custody for two days, an unwarranted measure of undue harshness. They have been charged under sections 141, 143, 332, and 353 of the IPC. Section 353 (deterring a public servant from discharge of duty) is non-bailable and regularly used against protestors. It demonstrates, yet again, the instinctively repressive nature of the state response to democratic protest in this country.

The Aarey forests, home to members of the Warli Adivasis, are considered the precious green lungs of a choking, overcrowded Mumbai. They are a crucial part of a rich ecosystem that supports not just livelihoods but also numerous other species, an ecosystem that cannot be casually replicated by planting saplings elsewhere, as the metro authorities claim. And although the metro car shed, for.which these trees have been torn down, may be a part of a public welfare utility, Delhi’s experience with its metro suggests that the poor and working people will be priced out of access to its services. Essentially, an ecosystem is being denuded to favour the upper classes in Mumbai.

The destruction of the over 2,000 trees in Mumbai could not have been worse timed. The worldwide horror at the ongoing destruction of the Amazon rainforests should have warned the metro authorities in Mumbai of the significance of preserving carbon sinks in the face of the planetary climate crisis.

We demand that:
1. The detained protesters be released immediately.
2. All the fabricated charges against them be unconditionally dropped.
3. No further destruction of the Aarey forests be allowed.
4. The damaged section of the Aarey forests be restored after due consultation with botanical experts.

South Asian People’s Action on the Climate Crisis (SAPACC)
97170 25556, 94404 01421, 92137 63756