Arunachal Releases Four Anti-Siang Dam Protesters: Dialogue Offer on the Siang Upper Project
On 7 November 2026, the Arunachal Pradesh government released four activists from Jully jail in Itanagar. They had been held since 9 October 2026 under the Arunachal Pradesh Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2014 (APUAPA), a state law that allows detention without trial.
The four (Adum Tayom, Omak Paron, Okut Paloh and Oson Paron, from Geku village) were organising villagers against the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), a dam of about 11,000 MW planned by NHPC (National Hydroelectric Power Corporation) on the Siang river.
The state government called the release a "confidence-building measure" for dialogue. In a 6 November letter, it also agreed to reinstate village elders (Gaonburhas and Gaonburhis) who had been removed for opposing the project, and promised to resolve the Adi community's concerns through a "mutually agreeable roadmap".
The Siang Indigenous Farmers' Forum (SIFF), which leads the protests, had earlier declined talks until all anti-dam detainees are released and armed security forces are withdrawn from villages of Upper Siang district. The government said these demands can be discussed at the talks.
Protesters say the dam could submerge up to 27 villages of the Adi community. The arrests on 9 October led to a solidarity march at Pasighat on 23 October, which turned violent after a lathicharge and tear gas; NHPC's premises were set on fire, and more people were detained.
Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP): India's Storage Dam on the Siang
The Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, or SUMP, is a very large dam proposed on the Siang river in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. The Siang is the name of the Brahmaputra after it enters India from Tibet, where it is called the Yarlung Tsangpo. The project is meant to store a huge amount of water, produce electricity and control floods downstream in Assam. It is being planned by NHPC, a central public sector hydropower company, under the Ministry of Power, with the Ministry of Jal Shakti involved for water storage.
The protesters were detained for opposing the pre-feasibility studies for SUMP. Their release, and the offer of talks, show that the project now depends on winning the trust of the Adi villages that would be affected. The dispute is a classic clash between national strategic and water-security goals and local tribal land rights.
Article 22: Protection Against Arrest and Detention
Article 22 of the Constitution gives every person who is arrested a set of basic protections: to be told why, to consult a lawyer of their choice, and to be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours. The same Article also allows preventive detention, which means holding a person not for a crime already done, but to stop them from doing something harmful in future. Because such detention happens without a trial, Article 22 adds special safeguards for it.
The four Siang activists were held under Arunachal Pradesh's state preventive detention law, not convicted of any crime. Human rights groups have long criticised the use of such laws against protesters, because they allow long detention with limited legal remedy. The release shows that the executive can also end such detention as a political gesture.
Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)
Free, Prior and Informed Consent, or FPIC, is the idea that indigenous and tribal communities have the right to say yes or no to a project on their land. The consent must be free (no force or pressure), prior (taken before work starts), and informed (after the people are told the full facts in a language they understand). It is a key principle of international human rights law for indigenous peoples.
The core demand of the Siang protesters is that no studies or construction should go ahead without the consent of the Adi villages. The government's promise of a "mutually agreeable roadmap" is, in effect, a move towards a consent-based process of the kind FPIC describes.
- Activists detained: 9 October 2026; released: 7 November 2026, from Jully jail, Itanagar
- Law used: Arunachal Pradesh Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2014 (maximum detention six months under Section 13)
- Project: Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, about 11,000 to 11,200 MW, by NHPC, in Upper Siang district
- Proposed live storage: about 9.2 billion cubic metres
- Villages feared to be submerged: up to 27 (protesters' estimate), of the Adi community
- Leading protest group: Siang Indigenous Farmers' Forum (SIFF)
- Pasighat solidarity march turned violent: 23 October 2026
- China's Medog project on the Yarlung Tsangpo: about 60,000 MW; construction began 19 July 2025
- Article 22(4): preventive detention beyond 3 months needs Advisory Board approval
- UNDRIP adopted: 13 September 2007