Human Rights Violations: The Bhandarpaani Incident in Betul (M.P.)
The existence of tribals at stake
INTRODUCTION:
Tribal hamlet Bhandarpaani, situated in the hills of Satpura, was razed to the ground on a rainy night by the Betul administration, the forest department and the police. The scene could remind one of the ravaged populations by a ruthless army on the move. The department arrested and detained 73 Korku tribal men, women and children in villages spread far and wide. Relatives have been separated from each other. In the process tribal families lost all their belongings, cooking wares, clothes, bedding, food, minor forest produces, cattle and goats and little amount of money that they had. They were left only with their clothes on their body. The detainees and their relatives left in the village are facing threats to survival. Bakatsingh, Bhaglu and Gyarsingh are unable to find out their wife and children who were arrested and taken away forcefully in their absence. One tribal girl, Dedreen D/o Ektaar went missing on the afternoon of 5th July from the village Bhandarpaani. The village was burnt, looted and razed to the ground by the forest department last year July 2003 in a similar manner. Could this be justified by any law of the land In the name of removal of encroachment on forestland?
As an immediate step towards relief the Sagathana is filing a “Habeas Corpus” writ petition in the Jabalpur high court. But, this is not enough. We appeal to all the concerned citizens and human rights groups to act on it immediately. You may write letters to all the commissions and meet them personally on this matter. You may visit the place of incidence in individual capacity or as a team of investigation and mention the incident in various newspapers and journals. You may also contribute in cash/kind to fight the legal battle, travel costs, and also towards arranging for the meager needs of the victims.
Details of the incident:
On 4th July 2004, a party of 50 government officials including SDO (Police) Sarni, Ranger forest (Sarni), SDM (Shahpur) and Naib Tehsildar of Ghoradongri along with 50 members of the Village Forest Committee of Imlikheda village reached the village Bhandarpaani at 4 o’clock in the evening. They razed 10 huts to the ground and threw away the belongings, cooking wares, clothes, bedding, food (including the mango kernels that they eat during rainy season), minor forest produces, cattle and goats and little amount of money that the poor families had.
The team again arrived in the village on the same day in the intervening hours of 4th and 5th July 2004. This time they further razed another 10 huts left earlier at the instructions of the collector. The process of loot and destruction continued till the morning of 5th July 2004. During these hours the police herded people; they were forced to stay under the open sky in the rain along with the children and were not allowed to save any of their valuables including cash. Their meager property was destroyed. 300 goats, 150 poultry and more than 300 cattle were driven away in the forests. All the tribes were left only with the clothes on their body. The officials arrested 73 Korku tribal persons including 35 children and 20 women along with two newborns. Some of them such as Shekhlal, Bootha, Alok, Dedreen, Bakatsingh, Bhaglu and Gyarsingh were somehow not arrested. Out of this, Dedreen D/o Ektaar, aged 10, who went to fetch water from the nearby stream, has been missing from the streamside since the afternoon of 5th July. The villagers feared that the forest officials who were camping in the nearby locality might have harmed her. The forest officials were threatening of dire consequences if they did not leave the village.
Claims by the Administration:
As per the reports in the newspaper, the administration claimed that arrested persons had been put in villages Heerawadi (Shahpur range), Handipaani (Bhounra range) and Bankur, Juanjhar and Raiyawadi (all Ranipur range). The families had been given Rs. 1,000/- each towards immediate compensation. The collector claimed that the arrested and detained families would be provided with employment.
The Present Condition:
While the administration claim that it had kept the close-nit Korku tribal families in various villages, for their relatives this amounted to forced separation from each other. The family members have no clue of whereabouts of others. The children are sick. The families have been put in the community halls of the forest department, under the supervision of the Forest Personnel. The fear runs on their face. The families are at great pain because they are unable to speak and understand Hindi. Even their Korku dialect is quite different from the one spoken by the other Korku in the plains.
They do not have cooking wares, domestic utensils, bedding and access to food material. In some of the places local host villagers contributed to give them cooked food. The amount of compensation is rather a cruel joke on the families whose properties including cattle, goat, poultry were destroyed. Given the fact that most of the villages migrate for six months in search of livelihood, claims that tribal families would be given employment in the villages where they have been detained is ridiculous.
Our Observations and Concerns:
Tribal huts of Bhandarpaani are not fresh encroachments on a reserve forestland. Their ancestors inhabited the village since long and left it during one of the epidemics. 15 years ago they came back to the present village again. They have their religious places in the village. The village appears on the administrative maps. The village receives ballot boxes and other ballot arrangements in the Nutandanga booth of Ghoradongarai Assembly constituency. But the administration denied its existence. The tribes have not been given any documents. Even the mandatory right to food directives of the Supreme Court providing for food under different schemes to the poor sections have not been implemented for them (on the other hand, their meager property has been destroyed in the year 2003 and 2004). It is to be noted that the previous NDA government, in its cabinet decision, had decided to provide forestland to all the tribes who had been tilling the land till 1993. The matter is still pending before the Supreme Court.
The villagers faced similar incident last year when their huts were razed and properties were looted. Later, due to the presence of Sangathana and much noise in the press cases of loot, attempt to murder etc. were lodged against the forest officials and the members of Village Protection Committee of Imlikheda. The matter is currently under trial. Sometimes back the tribes got the information that the forest department might remove the tribes in order to save its officials and the members of Village Protection Committee of Imlikheda.
Could administration’s moves of destroying all the means of existence of poor tribes and holding the action during the nights and in the rainy season, leaving even newborns and the mothers at the mercy of nature be justified? Shall we not fight such gross violations of human rights amounting to abrogation of constitutional right to life and liberty?
In Solidarity,
Anurag Modi.