Kalinganagar police firing

What the government did

1. 2 Jan 2006

   Tear gasPolice, OdishaShare

   About 12 platoons of armed police were deployed at the site where contractors began building a boundary wall for Tata Steel.

   MoreLess · 6 sources

   Police burst tear gas shells and, by the commission of inquiry's account, also fired stinger and stun shells, rubber bullets and shots in the air before live firing. Police said the crowd threw stones and bricks and shot arrows; some injured villagers said they retaliated only after police fired, and the PUDR said a four-member delegation of villagers had gone to meet the Collector and SP when the attack began.

   • 12 platoons (over 500 armed personnel) armed police platoons at the site, said Mohanty commission report, as reported by NewsClick [30]
   • around 700 policemen armed police at the site, said villagers and citizen groups, as reported by Down To Earth [2]

   Sources [19][23][30][1][2][7]

2. 2 Jan 2006

   FiringPolice, OdishaShare

   Police opened fire on the crowd.

   MoreLess · 11 sources

   A police havildar, Gopa Prasad Mohanty, was killed; police said he was hacked to death and that they fired in self-defence. The death toll is contested: the first police count was six tribals and one policeman, the state government's report to the Centre gave 12 agitators and one havildar killed (three of them in hospital), Amnesty International records 12 Adivasis including three women and a 12-year-old boy plus one policeman, PTI's report on the Mohanty commission gives 13 killed and 27 injured, and later reports by PTI and Down To Earth give 14 villagers.

   • six tribals and one policeman killed (initial count), said police [23]
   • toll did not exceed nine killed (initial count), said Jajpur SP Binaytosh Mishra [13]
   • 13 (12 agitators and one police havildar), three of them while undergoing treatment killed, said Union Home Minister, citing the Orissa government's report [27]
   • 12 tribals and one policeman killed, said The Hindu (Prafulla Das) [24]
   • 12 Adivasis, including three women and a 12-year-old boy, and one policeman killed, said Amnesty International [4]
   • 13 persons, and one police constable killed, said PTI, reporting the Mohanty commission report [32]
   • 14 (12 on the spot, two of the injured later) villagers killed, said PTI, 2025 anniversary report [12]
   • 14, including three women villagers killed, said Down To Earth (Ashis Senapati) [34]
   • around 40 tribals and police personnel seriously injured injured, said The Hindu (Prafulla Das), 2 January [23]
   • 27 injured, said PTI, reporting the Mohanty commission report [32]
   • 37 villagers and four policemen injured, said Hindustan Times [35]
   • 60 injured by bullets, said PTI, 2025 anniversary report [12]

   Sources [23][24][19][20][27][4][32][12][34][35][13]

3. 2 Jan 2006

   CurfewState government, OdishaShare

   A curfew was imposed at Kalinga Nagar on the afternoon of 2 January as more villagers reached the site, and additional forces were deployed.

   MoreLess · 4 sources

   The curfew was lifted on the morning of 3 January.

   Sources [23][24][20][13]

4. 2 Jan 2006

   ConcessionState government, OdishaShare

   Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh for each family of the dead on 2 January and raised it to Rs 5 lakh on 5 January.

   MoreLess · 7 sources

   The state also offered Rs 50,000 and free treatment to each injured person and a job for one member of each affected family. The Centre announced a further Rs 5 lakh per family from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. The families did not take the money: the Union Home Minister told the Lok Sabha that payment could not be made because the next of kin had not given bank account numbers, while reports said the families refused it and demanded Rs 20 lakh per death, five acres of land per acre acquired and action against officials. An essay in Down To Earth reported in February 2007 that only one of 13 families had accepted the Rs 10 lakh offer.

   • 32 injured persons to receive Rs 50,000 each, said The Telegraph (Debabrata Mohanty) [21]
   • one of 13 families who had accepted the Rs 10 lakh offer by early 2007, said Joan Martinez-Alier and Leah Temper, Down To Earth [9]

   Sources [27][19][21][25][14][9][4]

5. 3 Jan 2006

   Commission of inquiryState government, OdishaShare

   On 3 January 2006 the state government announced a judicial inquiry by a sitting High Court judge.

   MoreLess · 9 sources

   The Hindu reported on 8 January that the High Court had first said no judge could be spared. By March 2006 the state had set up a commission of a sitting Orissa High Court judge under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, to report within six months. According to Sabrang India, this Justice A.S. Naidu commission was dissolved in May 2007 after the Supreme Court ruled that sitting judges could not head such inquiries, and a Justice R.K. Patra commission formed in January 2008 was dissolved when he became Lokpal. PTI reported that Justice P.K. Mohanty was appointed on 4 September 2009; his commission submitted its report on 3 July 2015, and the state accepted it on 8 June 2016.

   Legal basis: Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952

   Sources [27][29][24][20][26][32][3][15][4]

6. 3 Jan 2006

   BarricadingOther, OdishaShare

   From 3 January 2006 villagers blocked the Daitari-Paradip Express Highway (National Highway 200) near Gobarghati and Ambagadia, first with four of the bodies, and dug up the road surface.

   MoreLess · 7 sources

   The Bisthapan Virodhi Jan Manch kept the blockade for about 14 months and barricaded the plant site and nearby villages against entry by officials. The Orissa High Court later recorded that the blockade of NH-200 had continued for more than a year.

   Sources [24][20][28][2][8][4][14]

7. 5 Jan 2006

   OtherState government, OdishaShare

   The state government transferred the Jajpur Collector (Saswat Mishra) and Superintendent of Police (Vinaytosh Mishra), who were present during the clash, on 5 January 2006.

   MoreLess · 5 sources

   Arabinda Padhi and Asit Panigrahi were posted to Jajpur in their place. Protesters and the PUDR had demanded their suspension or dismissal and prosecution.

   Sources [27][21][25][1][14]

8. 5 Jan 2006

   OtherState government, OdishaShare

   Doctors at the Jajpur district hospital cut off the palms of five of the dead during post-mortems; police said this was to take fingerprints for identification.

   MoreLess · 10 sources

   On the night of 5 January the Chief Minister ordered the suspension of three doctors. The doctors said they were following police orders, and the chief district medical officer said he ordered the cutting after a written requisition from the Jajpur town police station; police later blamed the doctors. The state also asked the Orissa Human Rights Commission to inquire into allegations that private parts of the dead were mutilated. The Orissa Post reported in 2017 that the commission found the doctors had violated their service conduct rules, that the High Court barred punitive action against them and that their suspension was revoked; PTI and the Hindustan Times reported in 2018 that the doctors had been dismissed. According to NewsClick, the Mohanty commission found that the doctors had severed the palms without authority and contrary to the police request, and, according to a citizens' statement, absolved them of any oblique intent. In May 2006 the state agreed to return the palms; families refused them and demanded DNA tests. In November 2018 the preserved palms were taken from a club and found scattered near the memorial pillar.

   Sources [22][30][27][11][16][10][35][17][15][13]

9. 7 Jan 2006

   OtherState government, OdishaShare

   For the dawn-to-dusk Orissa bandh called by the Kalinga Nagar Surakhya Parishad and backed by opposition parties, the state stationed additional armed police platoons across the state and declared a holiday in all educational institutions.

   MoreLess · 3 sources

   The Hindu reported that police stood by during rallies and roadblocks, that hundreds of bandh supporters courted arrest and that the bandh passed off without any major untoward incident.

   • about 164 police platoons deployed in sensitive areas and industrial pockets, said Orissa DGP Suchit Das, via UNI [5]
   • 154 additional armed police platoons stationed across the state, said The Telegraph (Debabrata Mohanty) [22]

   Sources [26][22][5]

10. Mar 2007

    Section 144 / 163State government, OdishaShare

    On 5 January 2007 the Orissa High Court, hearing a petition by a resident whose son died after being stopped at the blockade, directed the state to take effective steps to remove the NH-200 blockade immediately.

    MoreLess · 2 sources

    In early March 2007 the administration imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC in the area and mobilised about 35 platoons of armed police. Collector Arabinda Padhi and SP Asit Kumar Panigrahi failed to persuade the protesters on 8 March. The Jan Manch then lifted the blockade from midnight on 8-9 March 2007, citing the High Court order, while saying its opposition to land acquisition would continue. On 9 March state counsel told the High Court that the blockade had been removed.

    Legal basis: Section 144 CrPC, as reported by UNI

    • nearly 35 armed police platoons mobilised, said UNI [6]

    Court: On 5 January 2007 the Orissa High Court directed the state to remove the NH-200 blockade at Kalinga Nagar; in its October 2007 judgment it held the blockade to be a breach of public order and directed action on the petitioner's FIR. [28]

    Sources [6][28]

11. 14 Dec 2017

    OtherState government, OdishaShare

    The Mohanty commission report and the state's action-taken report were tabled in the Odisha Assembly on 14 December 2017, about two and a half years after submission.

    MoreLess · 8 sources

    The state cabinet had approved tabling in May 2017, when Congress and BJP leaders criticised the report for holding no one responsible. The Orissa High Court had earlier pressed the state to file the report before it. The commission found that there was no option for the executive magistrate but to order live firing after tear gas, stinger and stun shells, rubber bullets and firing in the air failed. It said some local leaders, political parties and others had led villagers toward confrontation, and it recommended welfare schemes for land losers, a job for one member of each bereaved family and extra compensation for the injured. The state said the recommendations had been complied with, including Rs 16.5 lakh in additional ex gratia for the injured. Residents and activists quoted by The Quint and NewsClick rejected the report. In January 2019 the Orissa Post, citing unnamed sources, reported that 605 R&R issues from Tata Steel's package were unresolved.

    • Rs 16,50,000 additional ex gratia released for injured persons, said Odisha government action-taken report, as reported by the Orissa Post [3]
    • 605 unresolved R&R issues from Tata Steel's package, said unnamed sources, as reported by the Orissa Post [18]

    Sources [30][31][3][32][33][11][17][18]

Outcome

The highway blockade ended on 9 March 2007 after the Orissa High Court directed the state to clear it, and Tata Steel's Kalinganagar plant was later built. Three successive inquiry commissions were set up; the final Mohanty report, submitted in 2015 and tabled in 2017, held that the executive magistrate had no option but to order firing, and no official was held responsible. Families contested the ex gratia and rehabilitation terms for years, and the death toll remains reported as 12, 13 or 14 villagers plus one policeman.

Background

Who governed at the start of the protest. Each action above counts for the party in power where and when it happened.

Centre government

INCUPA, Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister

State government

BJD in Odisha (then Orissa), Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister

Places

Kalinganagar, Champakoila, Jajpur district, Daitari-Paradip Express Highway

Cause

Opposition to land acquisition and displacement for the Tata Steel plant at Kalinganagar, and to the compensation and rehabilitation package offered

Organisers

Bisthapan Virodhi Jan Manch, Kalinga Nagar Surakhya Parishad

Scale

About 800 to 1,000 villagers at the site on 2 January 2006; a statewide bandh on 7 January 2006; a highway blockade that ran for about 14 months

What they said

Words in quote marks were matched in the source. Everything else is a summary; open the source for the exact words. Each statement says whether the speaker's party was in power or in opposition at the time.

Sources

1. 1Letter to the Chief Minister of Orissa on the Kalinga Nagar firingPeople's Union for Democratic Rights, 16 Jan 2006T5 Secondary
2. 2Not bowed downDown To Earth, 31 Jan 2006T5 Secondary
3. 3Kalinganagar police firing: Panel puts blame on local politicosOrissa Post, 14 Dec 2017T5 Secondary
4. 4India: Kalinga Nagar police firing one year on (ASA 20/001/2007)Amnesty International, 2 Jan 2007T5 SecondaryArchived 6 Jul 2024
5. 5Bandh in Orissa, Jharkhand over Kalinga Nagar firingUNI via The Tribune, 8 Jan 2006T5 SecondaryArchived 23 Feb 2006
6. 6Kalinga Nagar tribals agree to lift 14-month road blockadeUNI via Oneindia, 9 Mar 2007T5 Secondary
7. 7Kalinganagar firing reportCountercurrents, 6 Jan 2006T5 SecondaryArchived 21 Mar 2006
8. 8Tribe blockades road in protest over killingsSurvival International, 11 Jan 2006T5 SecondaryArchived 29 Oct 2009
9. 9A year after Kalinganagar firing, tribal India refuses to shineDown To Earth, Joan Martinez-Alier and Leah Temper, 28 Feb 2007T5 Secondary
10. 1010 chopped palms recovered in OdishaPTI via The Quint, 19 Nov 2018T5 SecondaryArchived 20 Nov 2018
11. 11HC gives final chance to state for filing reportOrissa Post, 27 Nov 2017T5 Secondary
12. 12Odisha: Tribals remember 14 people allegedly killed in police firing in Kalinga NagarPTI via TaxTMI, 2 Jan 2025T5 SecondaryArchived 29 Oct 2025
13. 13Tribal Tribune news digest, Vol 2 Issue 5 (Kalinga Nagar firing coverage)Tribal Tribune, Jan 2006T5 SecondaryArchived 25 Apr 2019
14. 14Tribal Tribune news digest, Vol 2 Issue 6 (Kalinga Nagar aftermath)Tribal Tribune, Feb 2006T5 SecondaryArchived 25 Apr 2019
15. 15Remembering the Kalinga Nagar massacreSabrang India, 3 Jan 2025T5 SecondaryArchived 9 Jan 2025
16. 16Tribals to receive relatives' chopped palms this weekGulf News (The Asian Age), 21 May 2006T5 Secondary
17. 17The Commission of Inquiry report on the Kalinganagar firing justifies state violence on citizensCountercurrents, 18 Dec 2017T5 SecondaryArchived 13 Nov 2019
18. 1813 years on, R&R of Kalinganagar tribals remains unresolvedOrissa Post, 1 Jan 2019T5 SecondaryArchived 20 May 2020
19. 19Blood on east development modelThe Telegraph (Calcutta), Debabrata Mohanty, 3 Jan 2006T4 ReportArchived 5 Jan 2006
20. 20Displaced on road with deadThe Telegraph (Calcutta), Debabrata Mohanty, 4 Jan 2006T4 ReportArchived 6 Jan 2006
21. 21Orissa CM dons cash shieldThe Telegraph (Calcutta), Debabrata Mohanty, 6 Jan 2006T4 ReportArchived 9 Sep 2006
22. 22Axe on hand-chop doctorsThe Telegraph (Calcutta), Debabrata Mohanty, 7 Jan 2006T4 ReportArchived 7 Mar 2006
23. 23Six tribals, policeman killedThe Hindu, Prafulla Das, 3 Jan 2006T4 ReportArchived 5 Jan 2006
24. 24Situation still tense in Kalinga NagarThe Hindu, Prafulla Das, 4 Jan 2006T4 ReportArchived 6 Jan 2006
25. 25Jajpur Collector, SP transferredThe Hindu, 6 Jan 2006T5 SecondaryArchived 6 Sep 2006
26. 26Orissa bandh passes peacefullyThe Hindu, Prafulla Das, 8 Jan 2006T4 ReportArchived 10 Jan 2006
27. 27Lok Sabha debates, 14 March 2006: calling attention to the alleged brutal attack and killing of Adivasis by police in Kalinganagar, OrissaLok Sabha (Indian Kanoon), 14 Mar 2006T1 RecordArchived 6 Sep 2025
28. 28Chambara Soy vs State of Orissa and Ors.Orissa High Court (Indian Kanoon), 3 Oct 2007T2 CourtArchived 5 Mar 2022
29. 29Dr. Anup Kumar Nath Sharma & Others vs State of Orissa and AnotherOrissa High Court (Indian Kanoon), 9 Jul 2013T2 Court
30. 30Kalinganagar Police Firing in 2006 That Killed 13 Tribals was Justified, Says Enquiry CommissionNewsClick, Shilpa Shaji, 20 Dec 2017T4 ReportArchived 28 May 2018
31. 3111 Yrs Later, Govt Washes Hands Off Kalinga Nagar Tribals' DeathsThe Quint, Basudev Mahapatra, 30 May 2017T4 ReportArchived 11 Jan 2020
32. 32Commission raises question on role of local leaders, political partiesPTI via Business Standard, 14 Dec 2017T5 Secondary
33. 33Opposition slams Odisha government on Kalinga Nagar firingPTI via Business Standard, 13 May 2017T5 SecondaryArchived 15 May 2017
34. 34Tribals observe 13th anniversary of Kalinga Nagar firingDown To Earth, Ashis Senapati, 2 Jan 2019T4 ReportArchived 9 Oct 2024
35. 35Chopped palms of five tribals killed found scattered in Odisha clubHindustan Times, 19 Nov 2018T5 SecondaryArchived 19 Nov 2018
36. 36BJP will not withdraw support to NaveenThe Hindu, 7 Jan 2006T5 SecondaryArchived 7 Aug 2007

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