Gauhati HC terms eviction drive in Assam as 'big tragedy'

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Published : Oct 7, 2021, 9:56 PM IST

Assam eviction drive

The Gauhati High Court termed the eviction drive in Darrang district as a big tragedy. The state government is asked to file a detailed affidavit within three weeks.

Gauhati: Terming the eviction drive at Gorukhuti and the subsequent death of two civilians as a 'big tragedy', the Gauhati High Court on Thursday asked the Assam government to file a detailed affidavit within three weeks on the incident that happened on September 23.

The Court observed that blood has been spilt. The bench led by Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Soumitra Saikia made the observations on Thursday. The matter was heard based on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Assam's Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia and a suo motu petition taken up by the court. The court also critiqued the government if it believes that the national rehabilitation policy is not applicable in Assam.

Petitioner Saikia in his PIL mentioned that the occupants of Dholpur and their ancestors were forced to migrate from their respective place of residence due to devastating floods and land erosion. The State despite being aware of forced migration on account of repeated floods in Assam and erosion due to the Brahmaputra did not step forward to take any positive steps for their rehabilitation.

These occupants have been residing in the aforesaid area continuously for various dates as per their specific facts, and since the 1960s and they are genuine citizens of India, with their names recorded in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), voters’ lists, the petitioner stated in the PIL. The court listed the matter for the next hearing on November 3 and directed the state government to serve further eviction notices after the Durga puja.

About the case

The photographer identified as Bijay Bania was arrested by Assam police after a purported video of the man hitting a deceased man during the firing incident, went viral. Bania was hired by the Darrang district administration to document the eviction process.

The incident took place at the Dhalpur area under the Sipajhar police station in Darrang district when a team of civil administration accompanied by the security forces went to clear illegal encroachments in the area. District administration officials said that about 77,420 bighas of government land had been under illegal encroachment for over two decades.

As the police and civil administration reached Dhalpur No 1 and Dhalpur No 2 areas, the locals protested and obstructed the team from proceeding to carry out the eviction drive. The locals numbering several hundreds gathered in the area and shouted slogans against the Assam government and police.

The district administration, which had earlier served eviction notice to the encroachers, asked the locals to vacate the area. However, the situation turned worse when some of the locals pelted stones at the eviction team forcing the security forces to first fire tear gas shells and later fire in the blank to disperse the crowd.

As some of the locals charged towards the police team with bamboo sticks and lethal weapons like machetes, the police resorted to firing, killing two of the protesting civilians. Police said that at least ten of the security force personnel were injured, and some of them suffered grievous injuries.

It may be mentioned here that 77,420 bighas of government land were under illegal encroachment under the Sipajhar revenue circle in Darrang district. The BJP-led Assam government had started a massive eviction drive in June 2021 and cleared about 8,000 bighas of land.

On September 20 this year, the government had launched another massive eviction drive in Dhalpur area and could clear 450 bighas of land evicting about 750 families, who belonged to religious minority communities, who had been residing there. According to a government estimate, about 500 families had been evicted during the eviction drive.

Also read: Prima facie human rights violated during Darrang eviction: AHRC

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