RANCHI: The central government on Thursday informed Jharkhand High Court that the diminishing population of tribals in the Santhal Pargana region of Jharkhand is a serious matter and the central government agencies are still studying the matter following which a comprehensive affidavit will be filed after consultation with all its stakeholders in this regard.
Appearing online during the hearing of a PIL seeking probe on Bangladeshi intrusion and changing demography of Santhal Pargana, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta also added that the situation of infiltration of Bangladeshis in Santhal Pargana is alarming.
Disappointed over the failure of the central government to file an affidavit in this regard on August 22, the court had commented earlier on whether the government would act only after the Bangladeshi infiltrators entered the country.
Mehta, however, sought another week's time to file the affidavit in this regard, citing the ongoing consultation with different stakeholders, which was allowed by the court. The matter will be heard next on September 12.
Notably, Jharkhand High Court had asked the Central Government to reply through an affidavit regarding the measures taken to stop the infiltration of Bangladeshis and their views. The IB, UIDAI and BSF had earlier been asked to file separate affidavits.
Mehta also urged the court to remove IB from the list of respondents in this case, as it also has confidential information that cannot be made public. The court asked him to apply on behalf of the central government in this regard. Meanwhile, referring to the affidavit filed by the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of six Santhal Pargana districts where it has been declared that no Bangladesh intrusion has taken place in their districts, the division bench of Chief Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Arun Kumar Rai expressed surprise and warned the concerned DCs that if even a single infiltration is found in their districts, a contempt case will be initiated against them.
“Taking a serious note of the affidavit filed by the six DCs falling in Santhal Pargana region that there is zero infiltration in their districts, the court has warned that if a single case of infiltration is found in their districts, strict action will be taken by initiating a contempt case against them,” said petitioner’s advocate Rajeev Ranjan.
In between, appearing on behalf of a social activist, Advocate Rajendra Krishna filed an Interlocutory Application and pointed out how the tribal population has been reduced to 28 per cent from 42 per cent in Santhal Pargana. He also cited the electoral list in which the number of voters has jumped 100 times to 300 times at several booths. “A major reason behind this is Bangladeshi infiltration. If this process is not stopped, the situation will become serious,” he said.
Earlier, the court explained how intrusion has started changing the demography of the area and posing a threat to the existence of poor tribals. The court was also told that the banned outfit in Bangladesh, under a planned conspiracy, has been trapping the local tribal girls and marrying them under love-jihad and land-jihad in many of the parts of Santhal Paragana, which needs to be checked. The Court was told that intruders trap tribal women in their love traps and marry them. After marriage, they field them as a candidate in the Panchayat election and through them siphon off government funds to promote anti-national activities.