In a significant legal victory, the six-month externment order against CPIML leader and Sitapur District Panchayat Member Comrade Arjun Lal, issued by the District Magistrate on the basis of false charges made by the police, has been quashed by the Commissioner Court in Lucknow. The order was issued on November 11, in which the Commissioner questioned the basis of the externment order and noted that such are not in accordance with the law.
The order of externment, based on fabricated cases filed two years ago, was publicly served to Comrade Arjun Lal on 29 September 2024 outside the Hargoan Block Development Office by the local police. Comrade Arjun Lal subsequently appealed the decision before the Commissioner Court on 6 October.
Earlier on October 8, 2024, CPIML held protests across Uttar Pradesh against the continued police repression and demanded the revocation of the externment order against Comrade Arjun Lal and the release of Comrade Ramdaras, another party leader being persecuted in Lakhimpur Kheri district. A CPIML delegation, including AIARLA national president and Bihar MLA Satyadev Ram, UP party secretary Sudhakar Yadav, and central committee member Shriram Chaudhary, had also met with the District Magistrate of Sitapur to demand the immediate revocation of the externment notice against Arjun Lal.
Arjun Lal, a member of the CPIML UP state committee, comes from a Dalit, landless family and is known for his unwavering commitment to the struggles of poor villagers. In 2022, members of the upper-caste Rajput community launched an attack on a Dalit basti. When Arjun Lal went to the Hargaon police station to lodge a complaint, he, along with other Dalits, was beaten up by the police. Instead of filing an FIR for the attack on Dalits, a false case was lodged against Arjun Lal, and he was sent to jail. Again, on September 21, 2024, the same police station filed a report against Arjun Lal, which became the basis for his externment from the district. The police action against Comrade Arjun Lal is an act of retaliation by feudal elements, backed by the police administration, attempting to silence growing movements for the rights of marginalised communities.
