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Assam Evictions: A Travesty of Justice and Human Rights
Systemic discrimination and prejudice against a community has led to dehumanising violence.
On the morning of 24 September, the scheduled eviction in Assam’s Dhalpur village turned violent. The coercive action by the police against the evicted villagers left three civilians dead, including a 12-year-old boy and several both sides. A number of people are still missing.
The eviction drive at Dhalpur in Darrang district was aimed at freeing the encroached government land and redistributing it among the ‘‘indigenous’’ landless people for an agricultural project. The Gorukhuti project has been allocated `9.6 crore in the state budget, and the area has been declared as a community agricultural land. This, however, meant the eviction of people who have lived in these areas for more than four decades. Various news reports state that the people of Dhalpur settled in these areas after losing their land to river erosion. Hailing originally from Goalpara, Barpeta, and Kamrup, these people claim to have initially bought the land from local people. But as most transactions were verbal, they do not have documentary proof to back their claims.
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