Somenath Usendi is a resident of Aturbeda village in Kanker district, India, and the president of Rowghat Sangharsh Samiti, an organisation fighting against the Rowghat iron-ore mining project in Adivasi lands, in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district. 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. On August 23, 2022, Somenath Usendi, Lakhan Nureti and Narsingh Mandavi were criminalised by police, alongside other 6 members of Samiti, after a peaceful meeting they held with local communities was interrupted by a pro-mining mob. The charges against them included rioting, unlawful assembly, voluntarily causing hurt and wrongful restraint.

In May 2022, environmental defender Somnath Dugga was reportedly tortured after Samiti's legal complaint to authorities about illegal mining activities on 12 April, 2022.