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A CASE STUDY 14th & 15th June 1997
Currently, 154 small peasant families are a living a miserable existence, full of fear and hopelessness in Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar, one of the most developed districts of Uttar Pradesh. Recently carved out of Nainital District, Udham Singh Nagar encompasses the fertile Terai belt of the Kumaon region and is a short five hours drive from Delhi. A longtime stronghold of former UP Chief-Minister Mr Narain Dutt Tiwari, a respected and senior Congress member, the Terai belt is occupied by huge farms, far and away above state land ceiling laws. The former residence of the 154 peasant families, the now dismantled Amdedkar village, in Dohri Vakil Gramsabha of Kashipur Tehsil, is now completely farmland, owned and operated by one of the large landowners of the region. The only sign of the village's previous existence are the villagers themselves and the Ambedkar Bhavan, built by the villagers as a common hall to discuss their affairs. How the peasants lost their land illustrates one of the ways the large landholdings developed in the Terai, pushing out small farmers and marginalizing the original tribal inhabitance of the land. In addition to circumventing land ceiling laws, the large landowners (locally called the land mafia for their various nefarious activities) have been successful in intimidating and brutalizing their opposition with the active participation of local police forces. Indeed, the state, largely influenced by these powerful vested interests, have served the interests of these landowners, while neglecting their duties to uphold the law of the land. The case of the 154 villagers of Ambedkar village represents not only a clear violation of human rights of these poor landless people, but also demonstrates the dismal state of affairs as far as land reform measures are concerned. This case also points out that in the absence of land reform, the Panchayats often serve to legimitize local feudal forces, supporting them with the machinery of the state, to perpetuate repression of people's rights, which is not desirable in a democracy and civilised society.
HISTORY OF THE CASE In 1968-69, the then Agriculture and Revenue Minister in Uttar Pradesh government, Chaudhury Charan Singh, in order to rehabilitate the scheduled castes families of his constituency, allotted them some land in the village of Kundeshwari, as the area at that time was uninhabited and entirely forested. More than eight villages near Kundeshwari belonged to the Dalit community, mostly Jatav by caste. This community, through their commitment to hard work, converted the forested area into fertile farmland. The productivity of the land was soon noticed by the local land mafia, which upon seeing signs of development, began to act. As had become customary upon each successive attempt at land reform, what the government claimed on paper was vastly different than in practice. Often, the large landowners and their mafia links would protect their interests and even extend their possessions, by dispossessing Dalits of their land, with the direct complicity of local upper caste officials and police. In the Kundeshwari case, landless peasants had been farming the surplus as well as wasteland area near M/s Escorts Farms (Ramgarh) Ltd., in the Dohri Vakil village. Around 154 families came to constitute Ambedkar village and they had put up a signboard there. The villagers had made a common hall called Ambedkar hall. On January 14th, 1992, the regional commissioner Mr Nand Kishore Arya, by order of the UP Land Ceiling and Zamindari Act 1973 (an amended version of the UP Zamindari Act 1960), declared 878.67 acres of M/s Escort Farms (Ramgarh) Ltd. as "ceiling surplus land", available for use by the landless inhabitants. The poor peasants, mostly comprised of Dalits, began to cultivate the Chapter IV land, under which any landless peasant could gain title ownership of the land which he had been ploughing for the past 20 years. This was one of the chief features of the Land Reform Act, enacted to ensure equitable land distribution under the goals of the Indian Constitution. However, After the land was declared surplus, the local landlords, M/s Subhash Mehta, Rajan Mehta, P. N. Mehta, and Samar Pal Singh, came over and asked the poor peasants to leave aside their ownership rights and work as farm labour for them. The villagers refused to oblige. Later, the landlords connived with local authorities including the then Sub Divisional Magistrate Mr Shamim Ahmed Khan, to bring out the Police and notorious PAC Fire brigade to threaten the villagers with dire consequences if they did not vacate the entire area of Ambedkar Village. This was a question of life and death for the villagers who had with their hard labour converted once forested tracts into productive agricultural land over the last twenty years. Over eighty persons were rounded up under the instruction of Mr Shamim Ahmed Khan and were slapped with section 107/16 and sentenced to 8 days imprisonment under the pretence of disturbing peace. The peasant men were beaten mercilessly and arrested, the women folks were not spared, and police and other officials used abusive and derogatory language. Even the small children were beaten. Women who tried to resist were caught hold of their hairs and dragged outside their houses. After the brutalization of the poor peasants by the land mafia's goons, P.A.C., and the local police force and other state agencies, the entire Dalit village was uprooted and their belongings destroyed and burnt. The entire area was cleared and paved within one day and immediately expropriated by the land mafia and their people. According to official records, 15 persons were rounded up and sent to jail. The SDM demanded Rs. 50,000 per person for their release. Unofficially, the amount was Rs. 200,000 according to the villagers, when a probe panel investigated the matter and elicited testimony from the victims. Following is the official list of Dalits who were arrested on July 29th, 1993: 1. Fagani Chand s/o Durjan Singh of village Kundeshwari. Most of these poor Dalits had no savings to offer the officials for their release from the jails. Friendly people from local villages came to their aid and presented their land deeds as bail to get them out. However, by the time they were released, their village was gone. Their houses were burnt and a ploughed field lay where their village once stood. Most of the victims left the village in lurch as their only source of livelihood was seized by the land mafia. Subsequently it was discovered that the ceiling land was sold at cheaper rates without any formal registration papers. An attempt is presently being made to change the demographics of the region by a mass migration of people from Punjab. Not surprisingly, the probe team came close to being assaulted by anti-social elements at the instigation of the land mafia, when they attempted to record the narrative of the victims. Had there been no police protection, the members of the probe team, which included three women members, would have been lynched. This experience clearly demonstrated that the land mafia was not interested in solving the problems of land ownership, and would go to considerable extent to defend their ill-gotten gains. Political protection has been one of the great resources of the land mafia. According to independent sources, Mr Samar Pal Singh, a former minister of UP from Kashipur who is now advocating the interests of the land mafia, was a manager in the company of Mr P. N. Mehta. Furthermore, the Terai belt has also been overrun by the powerful network of the landlord's goons, ensuring the rule of their law. The sitting MLA of the area, Shri K. C. Singh Bawa, is also said to be providing all round support to the local land mafia. The role of local sarpanch has been highly biased and perhaps castist in approach, as he declined to send a resolution passed by the Panchayat to allot the ceiling land under Chapter IV of the UP Land Holding and Ceiling Act, 1960.
PRESS REACTIONS The local press has for the most part ignored the issue. Unfortunately, local journalists, either under the influence or fearful of the land mafia, have never bothered to report positively on the issue, unless it came up with the probe panel in the form of a request by Mr Jasraj Singh, a source of inspiration for the villagers. Mr Jasraj Singh is receiving regular threats from the land mafia. While the probe panel team was attacked and verbally assaulted by P. N. Mehta's hired thugs, the local paper "Amar Ujala", dated 15.6.97, reported the next day that the probe panel team was instigating the Dalits to unite. The probe panel team was never contacted by the reporter of "Amar Ujala". Indeed, it was made clear the next day that the panel wanted to conduct an impartial probe. Since the matter was related to Dalits and a situation of landlessness has been created, it became important to apply constitutional law as well as find international support, if the state government and central government continued to ignore this vital issue. The probe panel team was composed of members with a proven record in the field of human rights and Dalit welfare and held no prejudices against anyone. Initially, the panel planned to contact Mr P. N. Mehta, yet the villagers were hesitant due to security reasons. Ultimately, when the panel members were threatened by Mehta's men, the probe panel decided to accept the villagers' counsel. In fact the probe-panel had already ascertained the threat, and had written to the local authorities in advance of their visit. Subsequently, a police escort was provided to the team. More troubling has been the biased reporting of the local media that has done much to suppress news of the ilicit activities of the land mafia from reaching the national press. In recent months, the media focus on Udham Singh Nagar in relation to the Uttaranchal issue has largely failed to mention the vast denial of rights of landless peasants in the Terai, no doubt an outcome of this slanted reporting. Moreover, by raising the fanciful spectre of a Dalit uprising in the minds of the readership, the media has falsely portrayed attempts at redress and calls for the rule of law as mischievous, dangerous, and even seditious.
ONGOING ISSUE The probe panel hopes that the National Human Right Commission, National Commission for SC-ST , central government, and UP government come to the aid of the landless peasants. We would also request that these apex bodies visit the village of Dohri-Vakil, Escorts Farms, and Ambedkar Village, in Kashipur tehsil of Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar district. Since the Supreme Court has not given any stay in the case, we would request that the state government either get the case finalised by the Supreme Court, or implement the Allahabad High Court Judgement which not only fined Mr P. N. Mehta Rs 10,00,000 but also requested the state government to rehabilitate the victims. Fagani Ram s/o of Durjan informed the team that he was being implicated in false cases and had been threatened by Mr Samar Pal Singh and his associates. He apprehend that he would not be allowed to cultivate his field and harvest the crop as the terror of Samar Pal, P. N. Mehta, and their hired goons looms large on the villagers. It has also been alleged by the villagers that Samar Pal Singh has illegally occupied 60 acres, which have not been registered in the revenue record of his land. Subhash Mehta is also alleged to have sold the surplus land illegally at the much cheaper price of Rs 30,000 acre while the market rate for the same is stated to be more than Rs 200,000. When the probe panel team visited the Escort Farm a huge crowd of five hundred villagers had gathered in hope that justice would be done. They mustered enough courage to come out and speak openly against the land mafia who committed inhuman atrocities against them in close collaboration with state agencies. Furthermore, whenever the people reported this matter of great injustice to local authorities, the authorities did not take any action due to their close contact and tacit alliance with the land mafias. However, some of them did report to higher-ups in Delhi and Lucknow. On July 24th, 1993, the commission appointed by the local court approved the village as a legal entity and according to the villagers' version, local land mafias from Bajpur came to the village and threatened the villagers with dire consequences. The local Congress MLA Mr K. C. Singh Bawa who is very close to Mr Narain Dutt Tiwari, and a former minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mr Samar Pal Singh, are notorious supporters of the land mafia in the area. They were said to have been instrumental in displacing the helpless Dalits from the land that they had been cultivating for the past twenty years. On September 30th, 1993, Mr Sharafat Ali of village Hari Nagar wrote a letter to Mr Rajesh Pilot, who was then Minister for Internal Security and he in turn wrote a few lines to the district magistrate of Nainital to take necessary action in the matter. The district authorities were wholly aware of the seriousness of an instruction given by ministers and leaders. It was in this way that Rajesh Pilot's instructions were an eyewash. On February 17th, 1995, the Panchayat Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mr Lal Singh Chauhan, wrote to the district magistrate of Nainital asking him to rehabilitate the poor victims, but no action was initiated. In the meanwhile, M/s Escort Farms (Ramgarh) Ltd, filed a writ in the Allahabad High Court against the order of the commisioner for Kumaun Division, Nainital dated January 14th, 1992, determining the ceiling area under UP Imposition of Ceiling and Land Holding Act 1960. On May 23rd, 1995, the Honourable High Court of Allahabad tendered a historical judgement in favour of the Dalits. The operative portion has been reproduced below: "...Keeping in regard to all the circumstances, I impose a cost of Rs 10,00,000/- (ten lakhs) on M/s Escorts Farms (Ramgarh) Ltd. (petitioner of the leading writ petition) which M/S Escort Farms (Ramgarh) Ltd. will deposit in the Court, within a month from today. In case of default, the state Government will recover the aforesaid amount as cost from the petitioner of the leading case or its Managing Director Shri P. N. Mehta, who enjoyed the fruits of the surplus land on the basis of the interim orders, on the basis of this judgement, no formal decree will be required to be prepared. The judgement will be executed without reparation of any final decree by issuing a recovery certificate by the Registrar of the Court. This special procedure is being adopted in exercise of inherent powers under article 226 of the constitution of India." The court further stated, " It is further directed that the land should be settled as far as possible with in three months of the taking possession of the land in accordance with the provisions of the Act as contemplated by Chapter IV thereof. The cost imposed on the petitioner of the leading case will be utilised for the rehabilitation and settling the persons in order of preference under sub-section (1) read with subsection (3) of section 198 of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act 1950 and also contemplated under section 27 (3) of the UP Imposition of Ceiling on Land Holding Act. However it is being made clear that in addition to the costs imposed above, it will be open to state government to recover damages from the petitioner of the leading writ petition for wrongful enjoyment of the fruits of the excess area as permissible under law from the date of enforcement of UP Act No 18 of 1973,till the delivery of the judgement by the Prescribed Authority in accordance with section 16 of the Act. The costs imposed in the present petitions have only taken into consideration the wrongful enjoyment of excess land after decision of the Prescribed Authority."
RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Immediate rehabilitation of the displaced Dalits in the village Dohri Vakil, with compensation, in the spirit of aforesaid Allahabad High Court Judgement and also as per provisions of SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules 1995. 2. Arrest and attach the ceiling surplus land illegally by land mafias including alleged politicians Mr Samar Pal Singh, Ex-Minister of Uttar Pradesh, local MLA Mr K.C.Singh Bawa, Mr P.N.Mehta, and Mr Subhash Metha. 3. Provide police protection to displaced villagers especially to Shri K.S.Bhasker, local advocate, and Shri Jasram Subedar. There should be a police thana or the police post to handle the crisis created by the goons of the land mafia. 4. High level investigation into the role played by Mr Shamim Ahmed Khan, the then SDM-Kashipur, Shri Tejpal Singh Kotwal, Gajender Singh (in charge of police post Kundeshwari), Shri V.K.Bhola (DIG), and Ms Aradhana Jauhari the then District Magistrate of Nainital who was instrumental in the displacement of the poor Dalits from Ambedkar Village in close cooperation with the land mafia. 5. Constitute special cell to deal with the problems of Dalits and tribals, so that cases related to illegal land-grabbing etc. can be investigated under section 3 of SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. 6. Distribute the land under chapter IV to landless peasants who are mostly Dalits. 7. This case is clear violation of the Economic Human Rights of Dalits. The State Government and local administration have failed to protect the "Right to feed oneself with dignity" of the villagers at the hands of local mafia and the State police and other agencies who were instrumental in their brutalisation and illegal displacement. We demand that the State government ensure these poor peasants are restored their land rights, otherwise they will continue to face hunger and malnutrition. With the current state of affairs, they are totally unable to take up their cases with the concerned authorities. Out of 154 families, more than 60 families are missing and their whereabouts are yet to be traced. Justice delayed is justice denied and if the state government, the National Human Right Commission, or SC-ST Commission do not take up the case on a top priority basis, the poor Dalit villagers will continue to suffer under subhuman and starving conditions, and the forces largely responsible for their anguish will remain at large. We therefore request all the apex bodies and Human Right organisations to take up this case at the appropriate level and help these poor peasants for their immediate rehabilitation as per directives of the Honourable High Court of Allahabad. The probe panel team consisted of Mr P.L.Mimroth, Mr V.B.Rawat, Mrs Namita Rawat, Mrs Shanti Devi Mimroth, and Mrs Pramila Mimroth. Mr K.P.Bhaskar, a local advocate and Shri Jasram Subedar joined the probe team from Kashipur and provided assistant as well as guidance to the team members. Mr P.L.Mimroth Mr V.B.Rawat Mrs Shanti Devi Mimroth Mrs Namita Rawat Mrs Pramila Mimroth Mr K.S.Bhasker Jasram Subedar
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