Summary
On 5 December 2025, the “Ecocide (Prevention and Accountability) Bill, 2025” was introduced in the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Parliament of India) by Sujeet Kumar. The bill proposes criminal liability for severe environmental damage caused by individuals or corporations and defines ecocide as “a grave environmental offence crime amounting to a serious threat to ecological integrity, public health, intergenerational equity and the constitutional values.” It also outlines mechanisms for investigation, penalties, and ecological restoration.
The bill’s progress depends on selection in the Private Members’ ballot during a forthcoming Budget Session in January of 2026.
Background
The Dehing Patkai mining case is cited in policy discussions as an example of large-scale environmental harm linked to extractive industry and regulatory failure. In April 2020, India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change granted retrospective environmental clearance for an open-cast coal mining project in the Saleki Proposed Reserve Forest—part of the Dehing Patkai Forest in Assam. The project was operated by Coal India Limited and involved the diversion of approximately 98 hectares of forest land. Mining activity in the area had been ongoing since at least 2003 without full forest clearances, and the 2020 decision effectively regularized prior extraction.
The Dehing Patkai region is a lowland tropical rainforest and part of an elephant reserve, with documented populations of species such as the Hoolock Gibbon. Following the clearance, public opposition emerged across India, including petitions and legal challenges to the approval process, arguing that the environmental impact assessment and forest clearance procedures were incomplete or improperly applied, and that local communities had not been adequately consulted. The National Board for Wildlife subsequently deferred decisions on extending mining activity in the area.
Related Initiatives
Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Alex Putzer, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2025. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor.https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/india-ecocide-law/.
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