Bangalore: Vittal Malekudiya, the post graduate journalism student of Mangalore University, who was  arrested on charges of Naxal links and was subsequently released recently, has said that  he was branded a Naxal and then sent behind bars by the ANF just because he led the agitation for tribal rights.

He was addressing a protest meeting organized by the Defence Committee that was formed to fight for the release of Vittal and his father, here on Friday.

He said he was arrested just because he along with others protested against the injustice done by the ANF and forest officials on tribals by trying to forcibly evict them on the pretext of Kudremukh National Park project.

He further said the government which has failed to deliver justice to the tribals was more interested in imitating tourism promotion schemes and industries in the region.“If a tribal family purchased even a little more quantity of rice, then the police guarded their house suspecting that they might be supplying rice to the Naxals,” Vittal pointed out.

He further made it clear that he will continue his fight and there would be no compromise.

Noted thinker GK Govinda Rao also spoke on the occasion.