‘Bangladeshi infiltration’ claims: Jharkhand HC orders fact-finding panel

Since 2022, the court has been hearing the Public Interest Litigation by a Jamshedpur resident alleging Bangladeshi infiltration in Santal Pargana area, which comprises six districts.

“…after going through the affidavit filed on behalf of the State that the issue of infiltration has been disputed and now the Central Government is saying that the power has been delegated to the State Government and when the stand of the State is that there is no infiltration, as such, this Court is not in a position to assess the issue, as has been alleged in the present PIL,” the order said, adding that to reach to a conclusive finding, “independent fact-finding committee is to be constituted”.

According to the court, the Jharkhand state — through the affidavits filed on behalf of the deputy commissioners of Pakur, Deoghar, Dumka, Godda, and Jamtara – has denied any infiltration.

The court also noted that the affidavit filed on behalf of Unique Identification Authority of India states that the 12-digit Aadhaar number is only meant for identification and cannot form the basis of citizenship.

On the other hand, the Centre — via the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) – is claiming there is infiltration, the court said.

“The State is disputing the infiltration issue, while, the data which has been furnished, as has been taken note in the order (August 8) with respect to decrease of the tribal population from 44.67% in the year 1951 to 28.11% in the year 2011 reflects otherwise,” noted the HC order.

Significantly, the decrease the court was referring to denotes the total tribal population as compared to the total non-tribal population.

The court’s order comes after the Centre claimed before the court that there was “infiltration” in the area. In its affidavit filed on September 12, the MHA had filed an affidavit saying that the Office of the Registrar General of India – the apex authority that conducts the population census and keeps a record of demographic data in India – has confirmed that there has been a “drop in tribal population” in the area.

“However, the quantum of decrease in tribal population due to outward migration, low child birth rate among tribals, conversion to Christianity and other reasons also needs (sic) to be assessed,” the MHA affidavit said.

According to the affidavit, the Santhal Pargana region “had” witnessed infiltration of Bangladesh nationals since Independence and that of late, the alleged Bangladesh settlement in the districts of Sahibganj and Pakur “had” been highlighted.

“Further instances have been reported of misuse of loopholes, in existing land law like transfer of tribal land to non-tribal people through an affidavit of danpatra (gift deed), by Muslims to acquire land in the region have been reported,” it said.

It further said: “In one such instance, an altercation occurred (Pakur, July 18, 2024) between tribals and Muslims, when a Muslim family took over a piece of land on the basis of danpatra. However, linkages to Bangladeshi immigrants in any of these land related cases have not been established so far.”