Sonapur revenue village, located just 30 km from Guwahati, lies in a tribal belt and block area. The disputed land, approximately 248 bighas, is allegedly occupied by 237 families. Tensions escalated during the eviction, with the Assam Director General of Police (DGP) claiming that the violence was a “conspiracy” and a “targeted attack by miscreants.”

The situation in Sonapur Revenue Circle has escalated amid allegations that officials are manipulating the narrative surrounding the recent violence during the eviction drive. What began as an operation to clear 248 bighas of government land in a notified tribal belt has now spiralled into a tense standoff between the authorities and local residents.

While the government has claimed that officials were attacked with sharp weapons and stones, many in the community believe the incident is being misrepresented. They argue that the use of force by the police was disproportionate and that the authorities are shifting blame to justify the violence that left two dead and several others injured.

Escalating tensions due to Assam officials justifying the tragedy:

Taking to X, DGP GP Singh claimed that on September 12, government officials, including on-duty police personnel, were attacked during an ongoing eviction drive in the Sonapur Revenue Circle of Kamrup Metro. Alleging that the eviction was being conducted by the revenue authorities of Kamrup Metro in accordance with established procedures, the senior police officer stated that the goal of the drive is to clear 248 bighas of government land in a notified tribal belt, where 237 unauthorized structures had been illegally built.

Referring to the violence that took place during the eviction, the DGP wrote that “During today’s proceedings, government officials were obstructed from carrying out their duties when they were attacked with sharp weapons and pelted with stones, resulting in grievous injuries. So far, 22 government officials have been reported injured, some seriously, as per official records. In response to this targeted attack by miscreants, police resorted to the authorized use of force, following due process. In the ensuing violence, 13 individuals were injured, two of whom were declared dead after being taken to the hospital. Guwahati Police has been instructed to identify and take legal action against all individuals involved in the attack on government officials. Meanwhile, all statutory procedures regarding the use of force by the police are being followed. Appropriate medical treatment is being provided to the injured government officials and others affected by today’s incident.”

The post may be seen here:

Reference incident of attack on Government officials on duty at Sonapur, Kamrup Metro – Revenue authorities of Kamrup Metro have been carrying out eviction proceedings from the government land in the notified tribal belt of Sonapur Revenue Circle of Kamrup Metro since Sept 9th… pic.twitter.com/jnLBMSBc7S

— GP Singh (@gpsinghips) September 12, 2024

As was expected from the Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, has alleged that the violence was incited by the Congress party, accusing them of provoking the residents to attack the police. While addressing the media, the Chief Minister claimed that the “encroachers” were originally from Darrang and Morigaon districts of Assam.

CM Biswa took to X to speak on this incident, in his caption, written in Hindi, he has referred to the people involved in the “clash” as “ghuspethiya (infiltrators)”, further complicating the narrative. In his caption, he has written “We are running a special campaign against the encroachers who have illegally occupied the land of the tribals in Sonapur, Assam. Yesterday, the Congress held a press conference and expressed sympathy for the infiltrators, after which the same infiltrators attacked the police.”

The post may be seen here:

असम के सोनापुर में आदिवासियों की जमीन पर अवैध तरीके से कब्ज़ा करने वाले अतिक्रमणकारियों के विरुद्ध हम एक विशेष मुहिम चला रहे हैं। कल कांग्रेस ने एक प्रेस कॉन्फ्रेंस करके घुसपैठियों पर सहानुभूति जताई, जिसके बाद उन्हीं घुसपैठियों ने पुलिस पर आक्रमण किया।#PressMeet pic.twitter.com/VIu3s9qUFe

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) September 13, 2024

Competing narratives and justified concerns over police action:

As officials provide their version of the events surrounding the eviction drive in Sonapur, they have asserted that the police were forced to respond with necessary force after being attacked by residents wielding sharp weapons and pelting stones. According to this narrative, the violence was a premeditated attack on government officials performing their duties, leading to the tragic deaths of two individuals and injuries to others, including police personnel.

However, this official account has sparked justified concerns and criticism from several quarters. All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) president, Rejaul Karim Sarkar, condemned the police firing, calling it a “deliberate action” by the government aimed at targeting the minority community. He accused the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government of harbouring animosity towards the minority population and questioned why no action was being taken against those who illegally sold tribal belt land on fraudulent documents. Sarkar demanded that the government provide land to the landless instead of forcefully evicting them.

Congress Opposition Leader Debabrata Saikia also raised serious concerns about the legality of the eviction, accusing the government of playing “cheap politics.” He claimed the eviction drive violated court procedures, alleging that no eviction notice had been served beforehand. Saikia further criticized the government for spreading fear and threatening a specific community, echoing the growing unease over the state’s actions. Notably, a team of Assam Congress has been also constituted to visit the eviction area under Sonapur revenue circle to assess the situation.

These criticisms point to broader questions about the transparency and fairness of the eviction process. The incident is eerily reminiscent of a similar episode of violence in September 2021 in Darrang district, where two individuals were killed in police firing during an eviction drive. The parallels—two deaths, the same month, the same community affected, and the same BJP-led government—have only intensified scrutiny of the state’s actions and raised doubts about the motives behind these eviction drives.

Related:

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Supreme Court warns against ‘bulldozing the rule of law,’ affirms that legal process, not allegations, must govern punitive actions

“Bulldozer barbarism”: Demolition drive in Surat after stones thrown at Ganesh pandal

The post Eviction tragedy in Assam: Two killed during eviction drive as police firing sparks allegations of government bias appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Explaining the concept of domicide, Fahad Zuberi in his Indian Express article notes that demolition can be “both constructive and destructive”, but domicide, on the other hand, “is the killing of home”. He continues, “A home is a living breathing ecosystem. It is built of memories, snippets of life’s milestones, and social interactions. Home is a promise of safety, a necessity for dignity and a matter of pride. Home is the place for a family to live and build a future, to aspire and dream…to rejoice in achievements and to mourn and grieve in loss…Home is the basis of identity, a requirement for state welfare, and even a qualifier to be counted by the state. Home is a place to exercise rights, to engage with others in privacy and dignity, the last bastion against societal stigma, and the last space where the right to privacy can materialise. Home, therefore, is alive and hence, home is not demolished. Home is killed.”

Such “killing of homes” in Delhi has been going on since long time, but the matter has exacerbated in the last few years, with significant increase in the number of people affected due to eviction drives in the city. In February this year, the Delhi Forest Department carried out demolition drive on the ‘forest land’ in Tughlakabad and Aya Nagar, ThePrint reported. The drive which began on February 27 and continued the next day, demolished around 25-30 houses. The forest department claimed to have recovered 1.5 hectares of forest land from the ‘illegal’ possession. Many of the residents were served the notices in the evening, and the next day in the morning JCBs started bulldozing their houses, some of them were not even present as their houses got demolished. A resident claimed that they have been living here for 15 years with all the legal documents including Aadhar and electricity bill, and questioned what the forest department was doing all these years?

The Times of India reported that the demolitions carried out over the couple of days in Tughlaqabad, Sangam Vihar, Neb Sarai and Ayanagar was in adherence with the direction issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to free the encroached forest lands, following the NGT order in 2015 in the case of Sonya Ghosh v Govt of NCT and Others.

Similarly, on February 28, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) carried out demolition in Khajuri Khas, bulldozing the house of Wakeel Hassan, the famous rat-hole miner who along with his team of fellow rathole miners had rescued the trapped labourers from the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand in 2023. The family of Hassan allege that he was targeted because of his Muslim identity. As per the Indian Express report, Shri Ram Colony where Hassan lived featured among the list of unauthorised colonies, but Hassan was quoted as saying, “My house is unauthorised the way the entire colony is unauthorised. The whole exercise is to extort money from me.” He also alleged that no notice was served before razing his house. The demolition suggested that his house was particularly targeted even as some other houses in the colony remained unaffected. Ironically, DDA which was setup with the purpose of providing affordable housing to the economically weaker sections of the society has become of the leading agencies driving wholesale demolitions in the national capital to remove the encroachments and ‘illegal’ structures.

Throughout the month of January 2024, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) reportedly carried out a total of 440 demolitions. MCD claimed that it recovered around 70 acres from these demolition activities removing “illegal structures”. The areas where it carried out its operation include Dera Mandi, Bhati, Said-ul-Azaib, Chattarpur, Burari, Jaitpur, and Narela. The same report noted that the zealous demolitions drives were resumed after the temporary ban was lifted on construction and demolition activities under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Notably, GRAP Stage III is invoked whenever the AQI index goes above 400, and during its stage III enforcement, all construction and demolition activities are completely banned to mitigate air pollution in the city.

On January 30, 2024, DDA demolished one mosque, four temples and 77 graves in Sanjay Van, which are were recorded as illegal structures in the protected Southern Ridge, Hindustan Times reported. DDA also demolished the historic Akhondji mosque as part this drive, which finds mention in Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) list under entry no 135, which recorded that the monument was repaired in 1853, much before Sanjay Van or DDA came up, contradicting the agency’s claim about its illegality. Notably, the agency also demolished the house of the grave digger Zakir Hussain in the process, leaving his family without any roof.

On December 21, 2023, MCD demolished around 300 houses near DPS Mathura Road in Nizamuddin, leaving the residents without any shelter in the biting cold of Delhi winters, Indian Express reported. Furthermore, the residents affected due to the demolition found no place in urban shelter homes run by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), as the DUSIB run shelter homes refused them entry. A month before, on November 13, 2023, large number of Burari residents were reported protesting against the demolition orders sent by the Land and Building Department, affecting around 1000 families and 4800 individuals, Land Conflict Watch reported. In the same month, New Indian Express noted that the demolition drive carried out against alleged encroachments in a slum cluster near Sunder Nursery at Nizamuddin has rendered over 500 families homeless.

HLRN report notes that most evictions (58.7%) during 2022-23 were carried out under the category of slum clearance/anti-encroachment, followed by 35% of evictions under the category of infrastructure and ‘development’ projects. It further revealed that in “….at least 36 per cent of evictions in 2023 and 27 per cent of evictions in 2022, affected persons belonged to historically marginalized groups, including religious minorities, Adivasis/Scheduled Tribes, Dalits/Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, as well as nomadic and indigenous communities, such as the Gadia Lohars.”

In the backdrop of G20 summit, which was hosted in New Delhi in 2023, thousands of poor residents were further rendered homeless, as the authorities zealously made efforts to clean up and beautify the city. As per the Down to Earth report, nearly 3 lakh residents were affected due to G20 preparations. “The Forced Evictions Across India and G20 Events” report prepared by the concerned citizens forum has said that “The demolitions in Tughlaqabad and Mehrauli are possibly linked to the heritage walks being planned for the G20 delegates. The Tughlaqabad demolitions, one of the biggest, have left more than 2,50,000 men, women and children displaced.” Outlook had reported that in April 2023 “close to 1,000 homes were razed in Tughlakabad claiming that the land belonged to the Archaeological Survey of India”. Similarly, it noted that 600 homes were razed in Moochand Basti, and further evictions were carried out in Mehrauli, Yamuna flood plains, and other areas of NCR region.  The Janta camp located at Pragati Maidan, the venue of G20 summit, and a slum cluster at Dhaula Quan were also demolished as the international delegation would traverse along that route. In June 2023, TheWire reported that 40 families were served notice to immediately vacate from the banks of the Yamuna, without specifying any deadline. As per the Quint, since March 2023, on the directives of the Delhi High, the DDA has carried out multiple demolition drives in the Yamuna floodplains. Reuters in its reportage on G20 induced demolitions in the national capital noted the response of the Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore as saying that “At least 49 demolition drives in New Delhi between April 1 and July 27 led to nearly 230 acres (93 hectares) of government land being reclaimed”. The Quint on September 7, 2023, published an article citing the parliamentary response of the housing ministry and said that “as many as 13.5 million people live in unauthorised colonies in the national capital”.

Law, Policy and Politics

While most of these demolitions take place under the guise of lawful and legal enforcement to remove illegal structures from the city, the substantive question of rule of law remains unanswered. The courts on their part are seen increasingly reluctant to stop such demolition drives, and even on many occasions directing the agencies to remove ‘illegal’ encroachments. Thus, the agencies often cite court orders or directives as a response when asked about the evictions and demolitions activities, ignoring that on many occasions even a notice is not issued to the affected person before undertaking demolition.

The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) released the policy in 2015 which notes that in-situ rehabilitation in the form of alternative accommodation shall be provided “to those living in JJ of Bastis, either on the same land or in the vicinity within a radius 5 Km. In case of exceptional circumstances, it can be even beyond 5 Km with prior approval of the Board.” But this protective cover extends only to Bastis and Jhuggies that have come up before 2006 and 2015 respectively. The policy maintains that “JJ Bastis which have come up before 01.01.2006 shall not be removed (as per NCT of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second Act, 2011) without providing them alternate housing. Jhuggis which have come up in such JJ Bastis before 01-01-2015 shall not be demolished without providing alternate housing…”. But the same policy also excludes any Basti or Jhuggi that has come up after the said cutoff dates, it notes, “GNCTD shall ensure that no new jhuggi comes up after 01-01- 2015. any jhuggi comes up after this date, the same shall immediately be removed without providing them any alternate housing.”

Importantly, DUSIB was setup as a response to the Supreme Court judgement in Sudama Singh and Others v. Govt. Of Delhi and Others, which ruled that in the context of the MPD (Master Plan for Delhi), “jhuggi dwellers are not to be treated as „secondary‟ citizens. They are entitled to no less an access to basic survival needs as any other citizen. It is the State‟s constitutional and statutory obligation to ensure that if the jhuggi dweller is forcibly evicted and relocated, such jhuggi dweller is not worse off. The relocation has to be a meaningful exercise consistent with the rights to life, livelihood and dignity of such jhuggi dweller.” The verdict further highlighted the need to undertake proper survey to record the jhuggis spread across the city and said that “…since most relocation schemes require proof of residence before a „cut-off date…If these documents are either forcefully snatched away or destroyed (and very often they are) then the jhuggi dweller is unable to establish entitlement to resettlement. Therefore, the exercise of conducting a survey has to be very carefully undertaken and with great deal of responsibility keeping in view the desperate need of the jhuggi dweller for an alternative accommodation.”

But this progressive judgement lost its force in the face of another Delhi High Court judgement delivered in 2022, which held that “only residents of 675 slums listed by the DUSIB and DDA were eligible for rehabilitation under the 2015 policy”, as per the Article 14 report. This verdict also affected another judgement on the Delhi High Court in Ajay Makan v. Union of India which had provided slum residents with constitutional protections from forced and unannounced evictions, Scroll reported. Furthermore, the aforementioned Article 14 report analysed the DUSIB Act and found that as per section 2(g) of the DUSIB Act, “a settlement may be considered a JJ basti only if it comprises at least 50 houses, making smaller slum colonies ineligible for rehabilitation even if residents meet other eligibility criteria.” Following these developments, courts have increasingly refused to intervene in matters of forceful or summary evictions by the public authorities, leaving the petitioners red-faced. Thus, as a result of these policy and legal developments, poor residents in the city find themselves without any strong constitutional or political recourse, with some lawyers and activists even arguing against going to courts in such cases.

Evictions and Elections 2024

As the Delhi votes on May 25 to send 7 MPs to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament, many who lost their homes in the demolition drives are disillusioned and lack trust in any political party. Speaking with Indian Express, Renu, a voter from South Delhi constituency, expressed her displeasure and said “When the bulldozer arrived, nobody came to help. Nobody stood with us… so, who will we vote for…We lost our belongings in the demolition. I don’t want to vote for any of them…BJP carried out the demolitions, but the AAP government did nothing. Dealers sold the land to us and we took a loan to buy it. We didn’t know it was government land.”

Another voter, Mustaqim, from East Delhi constituency told the reporter that “Modi ji said ‘jahan jhuggi wahan makaan’. Here there’s no jhuggi, no house. The councillor and MLA (AAP Jangpura MLA Praveen Kumar) helped us with the court case. Now we can only hope…”

Both BJP and AAP touted ‘jahan jhuggi wahan makan’ scheme but the slow implementation of the Centre run PM-AWAS (Urban) scheme under which EWS flats are to be handed over to economically weaker section remains lackluster. Importantly, the issue of lack of funds in the hands of jhuggi dwellers makes even these highly subsidised schemes impractical for many. Therefore, even policies like DUSIB’s “Delhi Slum & JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2015” remains ineffective as it requires eligible beneficiaries to pay rupees 1,12,000 + 30000(maintenance) to avail the benefits of alternative housing scheme.

While the opposition AAP and Congress, which are alliance partners, have criticised the Central Government for the spate of demolitions and evictions, the affected voters remain stoically unhappy that no party stood with it when demolitions took place.

The AAP is yet to release its manifesto for the Lok Sabha Election 2024 while Congress and BJP manifestos find no mention on rehabilitating the jhuggies or preventing demolitions.

[1] https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/10/domicide-must-be-recognised-international-crime-un-expert

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The post As Delhi votes this week for the Lok Sabha 2024 election, those affected by demolitions and evictions lack trust in the parties appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Assam state government began its eviction drive in the Lumding Reserve Forest spread over 22,403 acres of land in Hojai district today. Domesticated elephants and JCB machines were used to demolish huts in the Kamorpani and Hajongbasti settlements. 

Over 1,000 personnel of Assam Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were deployed fearing an outbreak of violence. But the settlers vacated their homes voluntarily after authorities spoke to them. 

“The families hail from Garo and Hajong tribes as well as the Chakma community. Some are also Muslim families. They used to live in Kamorpani and Hajongbasti settlements within the forest. But after authorities spoke to them, they willingly packed up and left,” local people told Nanda Ghosh, the Assam state team in-charge for Citizens for Justice and Peace, SabrangIndia’s sister organisation.

Here are a few images of the evicted families taken by the CJP team in Hojai: 

Evicted families pause to catch a breath after vacating their homes

Settlement of people within Lumding Reserve Forest

Lumding Block Congress president Rudra Kanta Tamuli and Udali Block Congress president Misbaul Haque visited the area. They told SabrangIndia, “People had gathered their belonging and left their homes even before the administration arrived to demolish their huts.”

Misbaul Haque added, “The evicted people are now going to be rehabilitated in Janju and Dekabasti villages located about 7 kms from their now demolished settlement.” Meanwhile, human rights activists asked the more important questions that have sprung up in wake of the Assam state government’s eviction drives.

Renowned Social worker Arup Baisya asked, “If the Right to Life is a constitutional right, then aren’t the right to food, clothing and shelter also basic human rights?” He further asked, “If eviction of families from Lumding Reserve Forest is a legal obligation as directed by the High Court, is it not the obligation of the government to rehabilitate the evicted people?”

This second question is significant because though the evicted people were verbally assured of rehabilitation and have now shifted to Janju and Dekabasti, there is no commitment to this effect in writing. Infact, the Assam state government had recently submitted before the Gauhati High Court that though it had set aside 1,000 acres of land for rehabilitation of evicted families, their eligibility for rehabilitation was contingent upon their names appearing in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), proof that they were landless in the places from where their families had originally migrated, and proof that the landlessness was the result of river erosion.

The aim of the drive that began Monday and will also continue on Tuesday, was to evict 640 families who had allegedly illegally encroached upon roughly 500 hectares of forest land. As per government estimates roughly 3,000 people have “illegally encroached” upon 1,410 hectares of forest land. The state government had submitted an elaborate phase-wise plan for eviction before the Gauhati High Court in September. According to this plan that was also recorded in the court order dated September 14, “In the action plan prepared by the State authority under the first phase of eviction, which will last for 5 days, it will be undertaken during October 2021 to November 2021 and in 2nd phase, which will last for 4 days, it will be undertaken during November 2021 to December 2021 and under the 3rd phase which will last for 5 days, will be conducted during January 2022 to February 2022.”

Related:

Yet another eviction drive in Assam
Evicted families will be rehabilitated only if name appears in NRC: Assam Gov’t to Gauhati HC
EXCLUSIVE: Three infants from evicted families die in Assam
Photo Feature: Evicted villagers struggle to rebuild lives in Dhalpur
Finally, FIRs filed in Dhalpur firing death cases

The post Assam: Day 1 of eviction in Hojai passes peacefully appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Manipur Forest Department demolished houses built in the reserved forest area in Imphal West in an eviction drive last week on Friday, April 24, cited various media reports.

Three houses were demolished after evicting the residents. According to the forest department, the evicted people had encroached upon reserved forest land and illegally constructed three houses at Compartment Number V, Khabam Block at the Langol Reserved Forest area of Macheng village, Lamlongei, Imphal West.  

Evicted three houses at Macheng Village,Lamlongei,Mantripukhri,Imphal East during Nationwide Lockdown due to Covid-19 Pandemic by Central Forest Division,Imphal on24/04/2020. pic.twitter.com/eIPmHZBHK6

— Athuii Panmei (@AthuiiPanmei) April 25, 2020

Speaking to the media, Divisional Forest Officer, Central Division, RK Amarjit Singh, informed that the villagers had been given prior information six months ago to stop constructing new houses but they did not cooperate.

A press release by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and HoFF, Kereilhouvi Angami, a regular patrolling team of Central Forest Division had detected the unauthorized constructions and stopped the constructions. The statement read, “However, taking the advantage of the lockdown due to Covid-19 epidemic and while the frontline staffs were fully engaged in controlling and fighting forest fires at different places, the encroacher started the constructions.”

The statement also said that encroachment, including illegal construction inside the Reserved Forests, violates provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, Manipur Forest Rules, 1971 and instructions of the Central Government.  

Press release from Principal Chief Conservator of Forest pic.twitter.com/mNzcursJSd

— Directorate of Information & Public Relations (@DiprManipur) April 24, 2020

The police had served a deadline to the members of the now evicted homes on April 21 stating that if they failed to do so, the demolition would be carried out on April 24.

According to The Morning Bell, A team which included the DFO of Central Forest Division RK Amarjit and his staffs, Imphal East Executive Magistrate, Addl. SP, SDPO Imphal East, women police personnel and additional security personnel arrived at Lamlongei Macheng at around 8.30 am. They noticed that residents of the village had blocked the road and upon seeing them they started shouting their objections to the move to dismantle the structures as well as insisting them to take their lives as well.

In order to stop the villagers from impeding the execution of the court’s directive, the executive magistrate Imphal East and DFO Amarjit gave a sincere explanation to the leaders of the village on the purpose of carrying out the eviction drive and afterwards the executive magistrate issued a warning that all of them return to their houses within five minutes as curfew was in effect on account of the lockdown account of Covid-19 pandemic. However, their efforts to convince the villagers failed and the latter continued to block the road.

The crowd was finally dispersed after police fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets at them as an exigency after which the demolition of three illegally constructed houses were carried out. The police personnel was hurt from the projectile of a catapult fired from the village.

However, what is questionable that the police evicted the people from their homes amid the lockdown without making alternate arrangements for them during this lockdown. Apart from this, the police excesses that the villagers were subjected to, is also questionable as even at this time, it has come to light that the authorities show no empathy for the underprivileged. What was the hurry to go ahead with the eviction and who ordered for it at such a sensitive time?

Mani Gangmei, Chairman of the village, had appealed to the state government to provide alternate accommodation for the evicted members as the time given to them was too short a notice considering the lockdown in the state.  

There has been no update on alternative accommodation for those evicted, probably leaving them stranded during the lockdown with nowhere to go.

Related:

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Denying Forest Dwellers Rights, Gauhati HC orders removal of Adivasi “encroachers”

The post Lockdown horror: Manipur forest department demolishes homes of forest dwellers appeared first on SabrangIndia.