On 16 September 2022, six community-based environmental defenders were beaten and threatened with death by members of a local pro-mining group and police officers forconducting interviews with local Adivasi communities affected by mining operations occurring in their area in Narayanpur District, India. Three of the defenders are members of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan, an alliance of people’s movements and individuals in Chhattisgarh, namely Nohrit Mandavi, a young activist based in Kondagaon district, Keshav Shori and Advocate Shalini Gera, a well-known human rights defenders based in Kanker district. All three have been working with villagers in the Rowghat hills on issues like forest rights and human rights for several years. The other three defenders are members of the Rowghat Sangharsh Samiti, a committee of local villagers opposed to the Rowghat iron-ore mines, namely Somnath Usendi, the president of the Samiti, Lakhan Nureti and Narsingh Mandavi.

In May 2022, Samiti environmental defender Somnath Dugga was reportedly tortured for his activism against the Rowghat iron-ore mining project. In August, Usendi, Nureti and Mandavi were also criminalised after a meeting with communities. The Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) owns the largest block of the Rowghat iron-ore mining project. Their major steel production unit is the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP). In 2017, SAIL's Bhilai Steel Plant has appointed ACB Mining Private Ltd as developer and operator for the Rowghat iron ore mines.