The Jharkhand High Court recently directed the state government to utilise its ‘Special Branch’ for identifying infiltrators/illegal immigrants in the Santhal Pargana region. The Court also noted that the issue of infiltration has been considered as an external aggression by the Supreme Court.
Notably, a petitioner named Danyaal Danish, a resident of Jamshedpur, has filed a PIL before the court. The PIL highlight that there has been wide-scale infiltration of foreigners who are “mainly coming” from Bangladesh, especially in six districts – Godda, Jamtara, Pakur, Dumka, Sahibganj and Deoghar.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Arun Kumar Rai is hearing the matter. In its order dated 8th August, the bench took note of a document submitted by the petitioner on the changing demographic composition in the state, particularly the Santhal Pargana region (as per Census data 1951-2011).
The Counsel, representing the petitioner, submitted that the percentage of tribal population in the Santhal Pargana region had “decreased drastically”. From 44.67% in 1951, it has come down to 28.11% in 2011. In contrast, the Muslim population had “increased manifold” and it had jumped from 9.44% in 1951 to 22.73 % in 2011.
The counsel further stressed that due to infiltration, illegal immigration etc., the demographic set up of Jharkhand in particular Santhal Pargana Region is changing rapidly. It is pertinent to note that Santhal Pargana is only 15 kilometers away from Bangladesh and it borders West Bengal.
The petitioner’s counsel highlighted that if the population of the Scheduled tribe decreases in the Santhal Pargana region then it would jeopardise the interest of the State of Jharkhand in particular the tribal community.
The petitioner also submitted before the court that Bangladeshi infiltrators in Santhal Pargana are converting native women by marrying them and grabbing their lands through gift deeds. According to the petitioner, after marrying tribal girls, the infiltrators are indirectly running the reserve posts. In his petition, he has also submitted that infiltrators have established a large number of mosques and madrassas in districts bordering Bengal.
The court noted that the matter appears to be very serious. It stated that in addition to the issue of illegal immigrants, it was also the question of the extinguishment of the tribal community from the State for which the State of Jharkhand was created to protect their interest and also for securing their rights.
Responding to the petition, the state argued that the local authorities including the police administrations have been facing difficulty in identifying infiltrators.
To which, the bench replied that it failed to understand why services of the “Special Branch” were not being utilised for this purpose which is supposed to give such information.
Criticising the district administrations, the bench said that this also revealed the “lackadaisical approach” of the district administration. The court noted that ration cards, voter cards and Aadhar cards were reportedly being prepared based on documents that “cannot be said to be genuine”. Based on such documents the “infiltrators are utilising the beneficial schemes” of the state which are meant for the welfare of the local people, the court noted.
The bench directed, “Therefore, the State is directed to utilise the Special Branch for the purpose of identification of infiltrators/illegal immigrants. The Deputy Commissioner of the concerned districts since have already been directed to file an affidavit, hence, let such exercise of identification of the infiltrators having Ration card, the Voter card and the Aadhar Card be conducted on the basis of the ‘record of rights’.”
It is pertinent to note that a record of right is a document which have details of land and its ownership.
The bench also directed the Deputy Commissioner of the concerned districts to ensure that documents like Ration card, Voter card, Aadhar Card or B.P.L. Cards etc. are issued only after verifying the ‘record of rights’, directing them to issue orders to that effect.
Additionally, the Court also made the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, the Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF), the Chief Election Commissioner of India, and the Director General of the Unique Identification Authority of India parties to the case. Subsequently, the court issued notices to them and asked them to file a response in the matter. The next date of hearing in this matter is 22nd August.
The High Court also noted that the issue of infiltration has been considered as an external aggression by the Supreme Court. Thus the high court said that the services of the Intelligence Bureau would be “effective” in dealing with the issue and directed it to submit a report on the issue in a sealed cover.
Nishikant Dubey had raised the matter in Parliament
Earlier, on 25th July 2024, Godda MP Nishikant Dubey had raised this matter in the Parliament. He had demanded implementation of NRC in the Santhal Pargana region.
The BJP leader said that everywhere the voters increase only by 15-17% but in this region, it has increased by 123%. He added that in the assembly constituency falling in his Lok Sabha constituency, about 267 booths saw the Muslim population increase by 117%.
Dubey said, “There are 25 such assembly seats in Jharkhand where the population has increased by 123 percent, this is a matter of concern. He said that there was a riot in Taranagar area in Pakur district. The reason for this riot is that the Bengal Police and people coming from Malda, Murshidabad are driving away our people. The Hindu villages are getting deserted.”
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, BJP MP Dubey said that when Jharkhand was carved out from Bihar, the Santhal Pargana region had 36% forest dwelling population in 2000, which has now reduced to 26%. He asked the House where this 10% population disappeared. But no one talks about this in the Parliament.
