India: Demolition of 5 homes and continued harassment of Adivasi families

OMCT/HIC-HLRN
JOINT URGENT ACTION APPEAL:
Demolition of 5 homes and continued harassment of Adivasi families in Rahata Taluk, Maharashtra

INDIA
Case IND-FE 270803. 1
Follow-up to Case IND-FE 270803


Geneva-Cairo, 15 September 2003


The International Secretariat of the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) and the Coordination Office of Housing and Land Rights Network of Habitat International Coalition (HIC-HLRN) request your URGENT intervention in the following situation in India.



New Information

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a member of the OMCT network, has informed the International Secretariat of OMCT that on 4 and 5 September 2003, Maharashtra State Farming Corporation (MSFC) officials destroyed five huts put up by Adivasi (indigenous) families in Rahata Taluk, Maharashtra, India. It is reported that these demolitions took place in an attempt to force the Adivasis off the land despite the fact that legal proceedings, in relation to their claims over the land, are ongoing. The families were not presented with an eviction order or given any prior notice of the eviction.

These affected inhabitants are amongst the200 Adivasi families who were first evicted from their land when MSFC officials and police demolished 200 homes and more than 1000 acres of crops in the municipalities of Puntamba, Shingva and Rustapur, in Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra, India on 21 July 2003. On 3 September 2003, after a month of failed negotiations with the officials and repeated requests to the District officials and the police, the Adivasis gave a press statement that they were going to take the land back into their custody. Approximately 100 Adivasis have returned to the land. 20 people put up thirteen huts on the land. The MSFC officials demolished five of them on 4 and 5 September. According to the information received, they will return in the next few days to destroy the remaining eight homes. The officials have also stopped the rest of the hundred people, who went back to the land, from putting up any shelters, consequently forcing them to stay in bushes nearby to the land.

Legal proceedings related to the demolitions that were carried out on 21 July 2003 and the Adivasis’ land claims are ongoing before the Bombay High Court and the Revenue Commissioner. The Adivasis have also filed 108 private complaints against state officials and the police related to the demolition, but the police did not take any action to answer these complaints.

OMCT and HIC-HLRN are very concerned about the repeated demolitions of the homes of the Adivasis, the attempts by the state officials to stop the Adivasis from residing on the land, and the failure to take into account and respect the ongoing legal proceedings. We note with grave concern that there is a high risk that the state officials will demolish the remaining eight homes.


Brief Reminder of the Situation

On 21 July 2003 around 100 police and officials of the demolished about 200 homes and more than 1000 acres of crops belonging to 200 Adivasi families. The families did not receive any prior notice of the eviction and they were not presented with an eviction order. Also, the authorities failed to provide compensation, alternative housing, or food.

On the same day of the demolition the police detained, without charges, Mr. John P. Abraham, a leader in the Adivasi struggle, from 10:00 until 19:30 at the police station in Rahata, Ahmednagar District. Reportedly to make the demolition easier to carry out.

Since their eviction and the demolition of their houses, the Adivasis have been living under very bad conditions. It has been raining heavily since the demolition and the Adivasis have no proper food, water or shelter, while women, men and children have been sleeping in the bushes with no covering. According to the information received, the government of Maharashtra had no plans to relocate the 200 families.

The Adivasis have been using the MSFC land for subsistence farming since the early 1980s and have been, as a result, harassed by government authorities. As a result, the Adivasis have resorted to legal and administrative procedure to assert their title over the land. In 2000, they filed an application with the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court (Petition No. 454) claiming ownership rights to the land based on the 1991 Resolution and on the ground that the MSFC had violated the spirit and objectives of the 1961 Ceiling on Holdings Act, by leaving 35,000 acres of land fallow rather than distributing it to landless people. The High Court did not accept the appeal, but directed the District Collector to complete an inquiry regarding the Adivasis' claim. The District Collector of Ahmednagar then reportedly rejected the claim on the grounds that the land was not vacant government land, but was owned by MSFC. The Adivasis appealed this decision to the Revenue Commissioner at Nashik. In their appeal they argued that the MSFC only had cultivation and not ownership rights over the land; as the MSFC has not cultivated the land for almost three decades, the land has been recorded as fallow land and is owned by the government, it therefore falls within the terms of the 1991 ruling and the Adivasis’ encroachment on to this land should be regularised accordingly. This appeal was pending when the 21 July 2003 demolition took place and is still under consideration by the Revenue Commissioner.

An appeal was also filed with the Revenue Commissioner, after the demolition of houses and crops that took place on 21 July 2003, asking for a stay order against the District Collectors decision in respect of the land claim. The Revenue Commissioner denied the stay order and, as a result, the Adivasis filed a writ petition with the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court on 12 August 2003. This writ petition addresses the demolition of houses and crops and the issue of compensation, and challenges the refusal of a stay order by the Revenue Commissioner.


Human rights, international law, and treaty violations

The demolition of the homes of the Adivasis and the attempts to stop them residing on the land contravene, inter alia, the inhabitants’ right to food and to adequate housing; i.e., the right of all women, men and children to gain and sustain a secure place to live in peace and dignity. The Indian authorities especially violate those citizens’ entitlements to security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, information, freedom from dispossession, an appropriate housing location, participation, compensation, and physical security. All are elements of the right to adequate housing as recognized in international law. Specifically, the authorities have breached their treaty obligations under articles 1, 2, 4, 11, 12, and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which India accessed to on 19 July 1979. The State has been derelict in its obligations as elaborated in the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comments Nos. 4 and 7 on the right to adequate housing, and General Comment No 12 on the right to food. India also has breached articles 1, 5 and 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) that it ratified on 4 January 1969.


Action requested

Please write to the authorities in India urging them to:

i. act on an urgent basis and prevent any further demolitions or attempts to stop the Adivasis from residing on and utilising the land;

ii. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the families who have been evicted and are living in dangerous conditions and subject to harassment by officials of the MSFC;

iii. respect the ongoing legal proceedings and allow the Adivasis to reside on and utilise the land;

iv. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the allegations of ill-treatment and harassment against the affected persons in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;

v. guarantee the right to adequate housing of the Adivasi families in Puntamba, Shingva and Rustapur with particular attention to the following elements: security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, freedom from dispossession and the right to information and resettlement, as recognized in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, among others;

vi. ensure that adequate compensation, assistance with rebuilding homes, food and medical attention are provided to the Adivasi families whose homes and crops have been demolished and destroyed;

vii. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights standards





Addresses

· Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India, South Block, Raisina Hill, New Delhi 110 011 India; Fax: +91 11 3016857/3019545 (O), +91 11 3019334 (R);
E-mail: vajpayee@sansad.nic.in or http://pmindia.nic.in/writetous.htm

· H.E. President Abdul Kalam, Office of the President, Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi 110 004, INDIA Fax: 91-11-301 7290 / 7824;
E-mail: Pressecy@Sansad.nic.in

· Justice Adarsh Sein Anand., Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission (NHR), Sardar Patel Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi 11001, India, Fax: 91-11-334 0016; E-mail: chairnhrc@nic.in

· Shri Dilip Singh Bhuria, Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Schedules Tribes, Floor 5, Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market, New Delhi-110003, INDIA, Tel: 91-11-4623959, Fax: 91-11-4625378

· Shri Dilip Singh Judev, Minister of Environment and Forests, Paryavaran Bhavan, C.G.O.Complex, Lodhi Road Institutional Area, New Delhi, India; Tel: +91-11-4361748 or +91 4361727; E-mail: secy@menf.delhi.nic.in

· Shri Sushilkumar Shinde, Chief Minister of the State of Maharashtra, Mantralaya, Mumbai, Maharashtra - 400 023
Fax: +91-22-23633272, +91-22-22029214

· The Indian embassies and representations in your country.

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Geneva - Cairo, 15 September 2003

Kindly inform OMCT and HIC of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply to: omct@omct.org and mmignot@hic-mena.org

The joint urgent appeals of OMCT and HIC-HLRN are dedicated to the protection of the right to adequate housing.

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Sample letter

Date

Excellency,

We have been informed by OMCT and Habitat International Coalition-Housing and Land Rights Network that, on 4 and 5 September 2003 officials from the Maharashtra State Farming Corporation (MSFC) destroyed five huts put up by Adivasi (indigenous) families in Rahata Taluk, Maharashtra, India. It is reported that these demolitions took place in an attempt to force the Adivasis off the land despite the fact that legal proceedings, in relation to their claims over the land, are ongoing. The families were not presented with an eviction order or given any prior notice of the eviction.

These affected inhabitants are amongst the 200 Adivasi families who were first evicted from their land when MSFC officials and police demolished 200 homes and more than 1000 acres of crops in the municipalities of Puntamba, Shingva and Rustapur, in Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra, India on 21 July 2003. Approximately 100 Adivasis have returned to the land, because they have not been provided for any alternate land to settle, neither compensation, and have no other place to live. 20 people put up 13 huts on the land. The MSFC officials demolished five huts on 4 and 5 September. According to the information received, they will return in the next few days to destroy the remaining eight homes. They also stopped the rest of the hundred people, who went back to the land, from putting up any shelters, consequently forcing these people to stay in bushes nearby to the land.

We urge you to prevent urgently any further demolitions or attempts to stop the Adivasis from residing on and utilising the land, and take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the families. We also urge you to order a thorough and impartial investigation into the allegations of ill-treatment and harassment against the affected persons in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law, to respect the ongoing legal proceedings and allow the Adivasis to reside on and utilise the land, and to provide the families with adequate compensation.

These demolitions and attempts to stop the Adivasis from residing on and utilising the land contravene, inter alia, the inhabitants’ right to food and to adequate housing;. The Indian authorities especially violate those citizens’ entitlements to security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, information, freedom from dispossession, an appropriate housing location, participation, compensation, and physical security. All are elements of the right to adequate housing as recognized in international law. Specifically, the authorities have breached their treaty obligations under articles 1, 2, 4, 11, 12, and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which India accessed to on 19 July 1979. The State has been derelict in its obligations as elaborated in the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comments Nos. 4 and 7 on the right to adequate housing, and General Comment No 12 on the right to food. India also has breached articles 1, 5 and 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) that it ratified on 4 January 1969. We urge you to respect and guarantee their rights to these families, as well as the human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights standards and your obligations.

Thanking you in advance for your attention in this matter, we look forward to hearing from you regarding your remedial actions.

Respectfully,


[signed]
[Your name]
[Your organisation]

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