CPI(M) Secretary Ghulam Nabi Malik has said that the harassment of people by the administration across Jammu and Kashmir in the name of removal of “encroachments” on Roshni land is highly condemnable and unjustified.
The administration is forcibly evicting people, who had been in possession of small portions of Roshni lands for generations and were doing cultivation on it. This is being done despite Additional Solicitor General of India (ASGI) Tushar Mehta making a statement in Supreme Court that the J&K government will not take any coercive measures till the review petition against an earlier court order declared the Roshni Act as unconstitutional are decided by the J&K High Court.
Even the government of J&K had filed a review petition against the court order. Mehta appearing for the government of India and Government of J&K made a verbal statement in Supreme Bar that the government will not take any coercive measures till the review petition is decided by the J&K High court.
However, unfortunately after the pronouncement of the judgment dated October 9, 2020, administration across Jammu and Kashmir under the garb of removal of “encroachments” have been evicting people from small portions of land they have been cultivating for generations.
Revenue and Forest authorities have started harassment of those in possession of state/Forest/Kahchera land by threatening them of forcible eviction and in some cases even the people have been dispossessed from their agricultural lands in sheer violation of the stand taken by the government of J&K in the court. It is a huge injustice to these people as not only their livelihoods but their homes are also at risk due to the government’s arbitrary and unjustified decision.
Nomads of Jammu and Kashmir – mostly from the Gujjar and Bakarwal communities living in temporary sheds or mud houses in forests and mountains, who have settled possession since generations – are being harrased by the government.
The eviction drives are a brazen violation of court orders and Forest Rights Act. When people try to raise voices against the practice, they are being silenced and harassed by lodging FIRs against them, which should immediately stop. The sheer harassment of poor people across J&K has created a sense of fear which must be stopped forthwith.