J&K forms team to probe violation of FRA while razing tribal houses

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday constituted a fact-finding committee to probe the alleged violation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, in connection with the controversial demolition of houses belonging to tribal families in the Raika Bandi area of Sidhra in Jammu on Tuesday.

The committee was formed a day after the demolition, as Minister for Jal Shakti, Forest and Tribal Affairs, Javed Ahmad Rana, expressed “shock and outrage” over the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha-led administration’s “clandestine and unilateral demolition of homes in Sidhra.” Rana said the action was “a targeted, cruel eviction explicitly aimed at terrorising and marginalising our nomadic tribal communities” without taking the elected government or his ministry into confidence.

The forest department and police teams had carried out the demolition drive in Sidhra on Tuesday, which the affected families said was “unjustified and inhuman.” Rana said they would not stand by as “silent spectators to this selective harassment and high-handedness.”


According to a government order issued by the Department of Tribal Affairs, sanction has been accorded for the constitution of a two-member committee to investigate the matter and submit its report within seven days. The order stated that the committee would examine “any violations of Forest Rights Act, 2006, in respect of recent demolition of houses of tribal families in Raika Bandi (Sidhra), Jammu.”

The demolition drive triggered outrage among members of the Gujjar-Bakarwal community, who alleged that the action was carried out without prior notice and in violation of tribal rights.

“We had proper water and electricity connections with smart meters. Suddenly, after several decades, we have been labelled as illegals. We were neither given prior notice nor allowed to move out our essential belongings,” said Parveen Akhtar, a resident whose house was demolished.

Political parties across the spectrum in Kashmir condemned the demolition drive, terming it as “selective harassment targeting the poor while protecting the powerful.” “Targeting nomads and tribals on the basis of religion, without any humanitarian consideration, is weaponisation of law. It vitiates the atmosphere, furthering mistrust,” said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.