“I was kept inside the 12 feet by 07 feet cell. I used to sleep, eat inside it as well used it as a washroom. I came out after a month and was again put inside it. I stayed here for two and a half years.”
After remaining quiet for a while Sukhram informs in a sad and tearful voice, “Had I done such a heinous crime that I was put inside the cell.”
50-year-old Sukhram Munda is one such tribal who was put in the prison during the Khunti Pathalgadi movement. While remembering that night Sukhram further says, “Police reached my house at 2 in the night of August 12 in 2018. They took me and my son to Murhu police station. They informed us that we were brought there for questioning. After questioning, they let my son go the next morning while I was put in the cell, and then in prison.”
After Sukhram was sent to the prison, his elder son Sukhnath Munda had to leave studies in the 10th class. Because of their engagement in court related work, his wife and son had to sell the animals of the house and mortgage the land. They lost two pigs, two bulls, two hogs and their saving of Rs 18,000.
In 2017-18, the previous BJP government had taken strict action against the tribal agitators of Chaibasa and Khunti in Pathalgadi movement. Raghubar Das, erstwhile Chief Minister, termed this movement unconstitutional and held foreign forces responsible for the same.
The Pathalgadi movement was started by tribals at Bhandra market in Khunti district of Jharkhand in 2017-18. Patra Toli lies 5 kms away from where Sukhram got arrested.
In fact, this movement started when the Raghubar Das government tried to amend the Chhotanagupar Land Tenancy Act 1908 and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act 1949. Tribals took to the streets against the large-scale amendment in the state. Violence and demonstrations took place in various parts including the capital city Ranchi. Only after this, the Pathalgadi movement intensified in the state. In the villages of Jharkhand, tribals started the movement along with PESA provisions, highlighting their rights.
There were 30 FIRs registered, out of which police registered cases against 200 named and 10,000 unnamed people. 172 of these were made accused; the police had sought prosecution sanction against 96 of them. Many sections were imposed on these people, of which the section of sedition was much criticized.
BJP itself got divided in two sections. At that time the veteran leader of BJP, Arjun Munda, in an interview had appealed for a review of the sedition matter. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the largest ruling party in the then government, made it an election issue. While in the opposition, it was promised that if their government was formed in the state, sedition-like cases would be withdrawn. The same thing happened. Chief Minister Hemant Soren instructed to withdraw the sedition case in the first cabinet of the government.
Sukhram was accused in two cases; he has been set free now. However, the pain he and his family had to undergo during those times can still be felt.
5 kms away from Sukhram’s house lies Gutwa village. During Pathalgadi movement, 45-year-old Powell Tuti's name was involved in seven cases registered in two different police stations of Khunti. According to him, though all these cases against him are over, with him being behind the bars for 26 months, he and his family had to pay a heavy price.
Powel says, “The case was withdrawn on the order of the government after two and half years. Neither was I getting bail and nor did I have money to get bail. I had to mortgage my land for a mere 95,000. Till now I have not been able to get back my land.”
38-year-old Sumar Singh Tuti, a resident of Bhandra Market, had to spend 11 months behind the bars as two cases were registered against him. He says, “Though JMM government had taken back the case, I had to face a lot of trouble in the prison. When I was put behind the bars the financial situation at my house was not good. A tree in my house had to be cut and sold and I had to ask for money from my family.”
Activist and writer Gladson Dungung says, “During Pathalgadi movement, innocent tribals were prosecuted in Khunti. They were put behind the bars and have been pushed almost 10 years back. They have lost everything in this case. Oxen, goats, paddy, fields had to be sold. Withdrawing the case is not enough; for serving justice to them, the government should provide them with adequate compensation.”
The word Pathalgadi is derived from a tribal practice of placing stone plaques on the graves of tribal people. This is a centuries-old practice among the tribals in which the tribal community perform Pathalgadi in the villages according to the rituals and their ancient traditions. On the stones, information about village, boundary, gram sabha, village rights are engraved. Apart from the information of their ancestors and descendants, there is a tradition of reading the writing on the stones about the dead. Especially, the areas of Khunti, Ranchi, and Chaibasa, tribals demarcate their territory by making Pathalgadi.
After the PESA Act came into force before 2017-18, former IAS officer BD Sharma (late) and Bharat Jan Andolan had launched a massive village Pathalgadi campaign in Khunti. In fact, the tradition of Pathalgadi among the tribals was used by BD Sharma and the Jan Andolan for informing them about the strength of the tribal village, gram sabha (that were to be found in the provisions of the PESA Act).
(Translation by Kaveri Mishra)
