The forest department police without any notice or
prior information demolished the house of the muslims and dalits in Dakhin
tola, churk bazaar, Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh in India. The police
also beaten children and old people, women, and men in a inhuman way,
Issue: Police torture. Forced displacement, starvation and
discrimination
Dear Friends,
The team of psycho
– social therapists went to Sonbhadra for providing empathy and psycho- social
support to the survivors of torture. Immediately after the incidence PVCHR
provided short stay shelter for 15 days in Sushil Tripathi Jan Mitra Sikshan
Kendra,a community center of PVCHR at Raup Ghasia Basti. PVCHR district
incharge did fact – finding and location visit.
Detail Incidence:
On 4th September,
2017 around 7 am the forest department police came with the JCB to Dakhin Tola
in Churk Village of Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh state of India. In this
tola around 200 people were living in 50 families from their forefather in this
barren land account number 00387. They made their settlement with their hard
labour and small saving. All resident living there own voter card and residence
certificate on the same address and some people's names are also mentioned in
the family register.
Again on 17th
August, 2018 in the early morning forest department police and PAC (Para –
military) came in dalits basti in Dakhin tola, churk bazaar, Sonbhadra district
of Uttar Pradesh. In this tola around 150 people are living in 35 families.
The matter was
intervened with the Honorable National Human Rights Commission (case no: 21030/24/69/2018).
During the followup
visit the team of psycho- social therapists were informed that here (in jungle/forest)
the police is giving threat to vacate the place. They even took their clothes,
tirpal, food and other essential items along with them. Due to which community
is living in dire vulnerable situation in an open sky without any roof.
The following problems were informed in the folk school by
organized by PVCHR:
·
The children rights are
being violated as they are marginalized from right to education and children
are forced to wander in the dense forest.
·
They have to walk long
distance to get work as daily wages labourer and they spend more time in coming
and going. Due to which they did not get work.
·
They have to walk 4 km to
get water.
The teams were also informed that following people died due
to heat stroke. Still many children are sick as verge of death. It is noted
that winter came.
Asmita s/o Kurban age 7 days resident of Bhatwa tola
Nizam s/o Aslam
Jaan age 7 years
Guddu 5 years
Bani d/o Adbul Kalam age 3 years
Yusuf s/o Mohammad
age 42 years.
Police made people
homeless through forced eviction and displacement and pushed out in forest: I, Gyas Jan w/o Sajab is resident of Churk
Bazar under jurisdiction of Robertsganj in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh.
In the evening of September 4, 2017, 13 police officers came to my ghetto, I thought that they might came in some case. I got shocked when I saw bulldozer along with them, I thought that there may be something.
While entering the
village they started to break the house, I with my full courage asked 'What is
the matter, why are you demolishing our house with bulldozer?
On hearing this,
the policeman brutally beaten me with lathi and slammed me on the ground due to
which I got ache with stone in my back. I loudly screamed, but the police did not
have any kind of mercy on me. I was very compelled at that time; policemen were
beating and I was screaming.
The police brutally
broke my house with bulldozers in which all the belongings of the house were
suppressed and all the valuables were taken away. The ration kept in the house
was thrown out and my chicken and a goat under the bulldozer, I kept pleading
to the policemen but they did not have any mercy for me. I lost my everything
police abused and dragged us to the road. The police arrived in the morning and
went to the village at 8 o'clock in the night. They didnot leave any single
house; the police demolished all the houses.
Owing to fear I, my
family member and villagers went to live in dense forest which is 10 km away
from my ghetto. We are now living our life as nomadic there is no roof or shed
and always we are having fear of wild animals. With the fear of police my husband
is not going to work outside.
In the prison I
used to clean the toilets: I Munni Lal Musahar, I am 45 year old resident of
village – Banglayi Dakhin Tola Musahar Basti under Robertsganj jurisdiction of
Sonbhadra district.
The incidence
happened on 7th September, 2017 morning around seven o'clock. That time I was
going to the forest to graze my cow and goat. I saw five police vehicle. I
asked to them why lots of police came in this ghetto. Policemen abused and said
I came here to demolish your house. After
that police demolished all houses with the JCB.
That was not
sufficient for the police they made us to sit in the jeep and took us to ranger
office. From there we were brought to
Lodhi hospital for medical treatment and then to Gurma jail. At that time it seemed like for what reason
we were punished.
I was in prison for
four days, I always missed the house. In prison I used to clean the toilets. In
the name of food we only get watery dal and roti.
AsiaNews writes, “The Peoples' Vigilance
Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) has made an urgent plea to India’s highest
authorities and to international humanitarian organisations to "support
children who face starvation, death, torture and forced displacement as internally
displaced persons".
The
pro-Dalit Varanasi-based NGO denounced police torture and the demolition of
scores of homes in the Sonbhadra district (Uttar Pradesh) inhabited by Dalits
and Muslims.
This
is the result of State authorities claiming ownership of tribal lands. In
Dakhin Tola, a village in the Churk Bazar area, the homes of tribal people were
demolished a few months ago; those of high caste people were spared.
In
the first incident (September 2017), the Forest Department displaced 50
families who had been living and farming local land (account number 00387). In
the second case (August 2018), the Forest Department and the Provincial Armed
Constabulary demolished the homes of 35 Dalit families.
“Some
350 people are involved,” PCVHR executive director Lenin Raghuvanshi told AsiaNews. “This is a
clear case of social and religious discrimination. Furthermore, the law was
violated."
Under
the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (2006 Recognition of
Forest Rights) Act, tribal groups recognised in the Constitution have the right
to occupy and harvest forest land. They have the right to forest produce within
or without village boundaries and to other resource, but they must also protect
biodiversity and preserve forest resources.
Despite
legal protection, State authorities have tried to get people to sign away land
to have access to its resources. When they cannot reach agreements with tribal
groups, the easiest option is to simply seize the land and tear down
residents’ homes.
Those
displaced in Uttar Pradesh have camped out in the forest near the village,
exposed to the weather and forest animals. This has led to the death of the
weakest, including four children.
Activists
complain that the authorities moved in “without any prior notice or information
[and] started to demolish the houses. When the local people protested then
they were beaten by the police in an inhuman way and charged with the case.”
When
“many other people [who] belong to upper caste occupied the land near to this
settlement” and “opened their shop, [. . .] they were not removed”.
Ultimately,
for the NGO, the human rights of these domestic refugees have been violated,
especially those of children whose fate is particularly tragic.
"They
are marginalised” without access “to education”, forced “to walk long distances
to work” and “some four kilometres to get water.”
Links:
About internal
displacement: The United Nation Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement
under its various principles For the purposes of these Principles, internally
displaced persons are persons or groups of persons who have been forced or
obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in
particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict,
situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or
human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized
State border. http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/AB752ABEA5C1EFFCC1256C33002A8510-idp.html
Who are the
internally displaced: Person who have been forced to flee their homes suddenly
or unexpectedly in large number, as a result of armed conflict, internal
strife, systematic violations of human rights or man -made disasters and who
are within the territory of their own country. The internally displaced quickly
become the poorest of poor subject to abuse and exploitation and to rates of
malnutrition, disease and mortality well beyond those of the still settled
population.
Guiding principles:
Guiding principles:
Principle 3:
1. National Authorities have the primary duty and responsibility to provide protection and humanitarian assistance to internally displaced person within their jurisdiction.
Section III. Principles Relating to Protection during Displacement
Principle 12
1. Every human being has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention.
2. To give effect to this
right for internally displaced persons, they shall not be interned in or
confined to a camp. If in exceptional circumstances such internment or
confinement is absolutely necessary, it shall not last longer than required by
the circumstances.
3. Internally displaced persons shall be protected from discriminatory arrest and detention as a result of their displacement.
4. In no case shall internally displaced persons be taken hostage.
3. Internally displaced persons shall be protected from discriminatory arrest and detention as a result of their displacement.
4. In no case shall internally displaced persons be taken hostage.
Therefore it is kind request please write
letter to the given below concerned for immediate intervention in the case and
take appropriate action at earliest.
Thanking You
Sincerely Yours
PVCHR urgent appeal Desk
Please write letter to:-
1.District Magistrate
DM Camp Office, Lorhi, Sonbhadra,
Thanking You
Sincerely Yours
PVCHR urgent appeal Desk
Please write letter to:-
1.District Magistrate
DM Camp Office, Lorhi, Sonbhadra,
Uttar Pradesh,
Pin-231216
E-mail: dmsonl@nic.in,
2. Chief Minister
Chief Minister's Secretariat
Lucknow Uttar Pradesh INDIA
Fax: + 91 522 223 0002 / 223 9234.
E-mail: csup@up.nic.in
3. Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister Office
South Block, New Delhi -110001
Fax. No – 23016857, 23019545
Email: pmosb@pmo.nic.in
4. Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission
Manwadhikar Bhawan,
Block- C, GPO Complex INA
New Delhi -110023
E-Mail: cr.nhrc@nic.in,
covdnhrc@nic.in, ionhrc@nic.in
5. Director General of Police
5. Director General of Police
Uttar Pradesh Police
1-B.N. Lahiri Marg,Tilak Marg
Lucknow – 226001
Email: dgp@up.nic.in
6. Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Fax: + 41 22 917 9006
Switzerland
Email: urgent-action@ohchr.org
Urgent Appeal Desk (pvchr.india@gmail.com )
Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR)
#Sonbhadra #UttarPradesh #PVCHR #U4HumanRights #EU4HumanRights #IDP #displacement #Torture
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