The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, a coalition of organisations defending people’s rights, has apprised the state home secretary of human rights violations of tribal and marginalised people and sought action.

A delegation of the Mahasabha on Monday met home secretary Rajiv Arun Ekka who also doubles as principal secretary to the chief minister and submitted a letter detailing various cases of human rights violation, especially by security forces.

“We informed about West Singhbhum and Latehar districts of Jharkhand where there is widespread violence against tribals by the security forces under the garb of operation against rebels. Cases of violence in custody are also continuously coming to the fore. Even FIR is not registered against violence. In most of the cases, neither the victims have received compensation nor action has been taken against the culprits. Innocent tribal-displaced people are being falsely accused in cases of Maoist incidents just on the basis of suspicion,” said Aloka Kujur, who was part of the delegation.

The letter also informs about setting up security forces camps without taking consent of the gram sabha or discussion with the people.

“All these are leading to an atmosphere of fear and oppression in the villages, especially among the rural tribals. According to police statistics, in the last three years, 44 camps were set up in the entire state, out of which 22 were done in 2022. The government should make public the documents such as gram sabha consent letter or forest department clearance while establishing security camps in the fifth schedule area like West Singhbhum,” said Kujur.

The delegation also cited specific instances of security forces excesses like CRPF beating up of tribals of Chiriyabeda (West Singhbhum) and molestation of a woman, repression of Tana Bhagats and other tribals in Latehar last year and custodial torture on a tribal Anil Singh of Barwadih (Latehar) and administration’s failure to take action even after over a year of the alleged murder of Brahmadev Singh, a tribal villager in Piri (Latehar) by security forces.

“We demanded appropriate action in all cases mentioned in the list and sought justice and compensation to the victims and action against the culprits. The government should ensure that the victims of violence by the police and security forces do not face any difficulty in registering an FIR against the culprits,” said Elina Horo, who was also part of the delegation.

The other demands include the prohibition of harassment by security forces in the guise of anti-rebel operations, taking consent from gram sabha or traditional village heads before conducting house searches in fifth schedule areas, local police should be trained and sensitised on tribal language and customs, a ban on UAPA and sedition section.