An activist from Arunachal Pradesh, Bhanu Tatak, was on Monday morning “prevented” from flying to Dublin from Delhi airport by immigration officials because of a complaint filed by Itanagar Police for her role in the ongoing protest against the mega Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP).

Activist-lawyer Ebo Mili, a close associate of Tatak, said she was to board a flight from Delhi around 4am for a three-month study trip at Dublin City University, but immigration officials prevented her from doing so. Her course was due to start from September 8.

Mili told The Telegraph: “It is a politically motivated lookout circular issued by Arunachal Police that prevented her from boarding the flight to Dublin. What is Bhanu’s fault? She is only raising her voice for the people who will be affected by the proposed mega dam. This circular should be withdrawn.”

Officials have not yet commented on the development.

The lookout circular, Mili said, was issued in connection with a case registered in June concerning a protest that took place on May 27.

On May 27, tension flared when protesters forced the local MLA and state minister, Ojing Tasing, to make a hasty retreat from the Siang deputy commissioner’s (DC) office at Boleng, where he had gone to meet officials and community leaders regarding the SUMP issue.

A woman was injured in the commotion when the minister was leaving the DC’s office under security. A case was registered in this connection on June 11 by the minister.

Tatak and Mili both serve as legal advisers to the Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum, which is spearheading the protest against SUMP.

Tatak could not be contacted but media reports quoted her alleging that the police case is being used to target those opposing the proposed dam. She alleged that she was stopped from boarding the flight because of a complaint filed by Itanagar Police for her role in the protest.

At a media meet addressed by Tatak and Mili in Delhi on August 2, they condemned the government’s push to execute the project without the “consent” of the affected people, which they said contravened the spirit of the Constitution. They claimed the project would displace over 1.5 lakh people and submerge 27 villages.

The proposed 11,000-MW dam is being set up by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, with chief minister Pema Khandu asserting that the project would help check the threat posed by the 60,000-MW dam being built on the upper reaches of Siang river in China.