Amid claims that Bangladeshis are marrying Jharkhand’s tribal women, Home Ministry tells HC: ‘Linkages of immigrants not established’

The affidavit, signed by the Under Secretary Pratap Singh Rawat, said that the Centre is “concerned” and alert regarding the illegal migration in parts of Jharkhand.

The ministry said that the infiltration is “assessed to have taken place” through Sahibganj and Pakur districts mainly, bordering West Bengal. It said: “It has been reported that there has been an increase in the number of Madrasas in this region…While the Santhal Pargana region had witnessed infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals since Independence, of late, alleged Bangladeshi settlements in districts of Sahibganj and Pakur had been highlighted. The infiltrators preferred these areas because of the common dialect which helped their integration.”

The ministry added that though there were instances of misuse of loopholes in the existing land law like transfer of land to non-tribals through an affidavit of ‘danpatra’ but linkages of Bangladeshi immigrants in any of these land-related cases have not been established so far.

The Home ministry also said that existing laws empower the state government to prevent illegal immigration and initiate legal action against infiltrators.

The Ministry added: “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’, by Muslims to acquire land in the region have been reported. 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.”

The MHA, however, said that the Commissioner, Bureau of Immigration, had shared the biographic data of the 145 overstaying foreigners with the state government of Jharkhand in 2021, with the request to direct the district police authorities to conduct field enquiries to locate these individuals and establish their identity as Indian or foreigner.

“In case of foreigners, the state government was advised to initiate legal proceedings, as per law, for his/her deportation. Subsequently, details of 203 potential matched cases against 75 criminal records pertaining to Jharkhand were shared with DGP, Jharkhand in May 2021 with the request to direct the district Police authorities to conduct enquiries to establish the identity of the under-trial/convicted individuals as Indian or foreigner,” the affidavit added.

During the earlier hearings, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Arun Kumar Rai had noted that Deputy Commissioners of all six districts of Santal Pargana had filed affidavits stating that “there is no infiltration of the Bangladeshi immigrants”. However, the court had earlier remarked that there was no reference with respect to the reason for reducing numbers of scheduled tribes in the respective areas.

The Ministry of Home Affairs Thursday said that the data submitted in the PIL was verified by the Office of the Registrar General of India and it can be inferred that the share of population of Scheduled Tribes in Santhal Pargana in the year 1951 was 44.67% which became 28.11 % in 2011. Notably, the Ministry said, “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 to be assessed.”

The Ministry informed the HC that from independence to 2011, the population of Hindu community as a proportion to total population in India has decreased by 4.28% and in Santal Pargana and the share decreased by 22.42%. In the same period, Christian population growth rate was 231 % nationally while in Santhal Pargana it was more than 6748 % whereas Muslims grew nationally 4.31% and by 13.3% in Santal Pargana.

Further, the Ministry added that various existing laws empower the state government to prevent illegal immigration and initiate legal action against infiltrators. “State Police in coordination with local law enforcement and administrative agencies by identifying vulnerable routes can stop illegal infiltration from Bangladesh. However, in view of the multi-dimensional nature of the issue, Intelligence Bureau can share infiltration related inputs with relevant authorities in state government,” the affidavit noted.