Four days after police and revenue officials of the Gujarat government were attacked allegedly by armed villagers, an uneasy calm had descended on Padaliya village. Around 1,000 tribals had gathered on an open ground when The Indian Express visited this village of Danta taluka in Banaskantha district, occupied largely by tribals. Many of the residents were not willing to talk about the incident in which over 40 officials were injured.
Among those to visit the village on Tuesday were Congress MLA from Danta, Kanti Kharadi, and BJP leader Ladhubhai Parghi. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Chaitar Vasava has said that he would also visit the village.
Tension began on December 5 when forest officials went to Padaliya for a tree plantation exercise and were allegedly prevented by people belonging to a group that went by the name of ‘AC Bharat Sarkar Sangathan’.
According to a government release on Sunday, a mob stopped the tree plantation exercise on December 11, following which the range forest officer reported in writing to the Danta Mamlatdar and Deputy Conservator of Forest. On December 13, when forest officials reached the spot along with police and Danta Mamlatdar for the plantation drive, a mob of around 500 people staged protests. The leaders of this mob allegedly instigated people and suddenly an “attack” was launched on the government officials with “stones, bow and arrows, swords and axes” and hurdles were created on the exit road by cutting trees and throwing stones, injuring 47 government officials, some of them seriously.
Kharadi alleged that the police “instigated” the tribals and demanded that an FIR be registered against the government officials on a complaint by tribals in connection with the incident. He also warned of launching an indefinite public protest at the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in Danta.
The FIR, on the basis of a complaint filed by a forest official in the Saturday incident, names 26 persons and the ‘AC Bharat Sarkar Sangathan’ as being behind the “attack”, sources told The Indian Express. According to official sources, this group believes that they are the “original owners” of the land and “does not believe in elected bodies, such as the Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha.”
Kharadi told The Indian Express on Tuesday, “The land in question is considered to be that of the forest department. However, a widow and her ancestors have been living there since before 2006. They are entitled to rights on the land (under the provisions of Forest Rights Act). The forest department has demolished her hut on the land while also filling a well on the land with earth without any notice.”
“The office of the District Collector recently issued a circular not to displace any tribal from forest land if they are living there since before 2006. However, the authorities have displaced the woman while violating the Collector’s circular,” Kharadi said.
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The Danta MLA alleged, “The officials of the forest department and police instigated the tribals who were peacefully discussing the matter with them to pursue them not to demolish the house of the widow… The forest and police officials did lathicharge, lobbed teargas shells and fired 50 rounds. And then people were shocked and tried to run away. It can be seen in the videos (of the incident that went viral on social media). And when they thought that they would be killed, some people retaliated. Stone pelting was done by all – police, forest and the tribals. Police personnel were injured, forest officials were injured and tribals also got injured.”
He said, “When police and forest officials have filed complaints against tribals, the tribals too have suffered injuries and their complaint should also be registered. That is our demand.”
The Danta MLA also termed allegations that the government officials were attacked by weapons such as swords, axes and bow and arrows as “false”.
The widow has been identified as Shakariben Parmar who said that she now lives at her old house in the village where her father-in-law used to stay. She has three children.
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Kharadi also demanded that her complaint should also be registered against the police and forest officials for “demolishing her hut.” He said the government and the district officials should also “reach out to the tribals who have suffered injuries.”
“If our demands of FIR against police and forest officials are not met by Wednesday, we will sit on an indefinite protest at the Danta SDM’s office from Thursday,” Kharadi said.
He did not specify how many tribals suffered injuries in the incident. Some people present at Padaliya claimed that tribals who have suffered injuries are taking treatment with “local medicines” for fear of being “arrested and framed by police”, if they came out in the open.
Targeting the BJP government in the state on the issue, Kharadi said, “Government officials are becoming instrumental in snatching land from tribals. By snatching the land from tribals, the government wants to bring in big industrialists. And it is a conspiracy of the government.”
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Parghi said he went to Padaliya on invitation from the local residents who wanted to explain what had happened.
“They said that the hut was demolished without notice and a well on the field was filled with earth. I believe that the local administration should have given notice before demolishing the hut or they could have reached out to leaders like us. We feel sorry for what has happened,” Parghi said.
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