While the 2021 eviction drive at Gorukhuti in Assam's Darrang district was justified, it was done at short notice, a one-man inquiry commission set up by the government has found. A 12-year-old boy was among two Bengali-speaking Muslims killed during the incident three years ago, which also left several including police personnel wounded.
The commission, headed by retired Gauhati high court judge BD Agarwal, submitted its 319-page report to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma which included 16 crucial recommendations.
An official statement mentioned, "During the course of the inquiry, the Commission received 55 memorandums and 44 witnesses were cross-examined."
Days after an eviction drive was carried out to clear government land from settlements for the Gorukhuti agriculture project in Dholpur leading to clashes on September 23, 2021, in which policemen were injured and civilian casualties were documented, a government notification on October 1 instructed the creation of the commission to look into matter.
Chief Minister Sarma had announced an inquiry into the deaths following the incident, the findings of which are yet to be made public. However, according to it, the government had "every right to conduct evictions" in the area.
A source quoted by The Indian Express said, "It lays out that no one has the right to occupy public land, be it forest land, grazing land or tribal land since it is public property, everyone has equal right to it and occupying it denies others of their right to it… it also points to the criminality of the act of land grabbing."
Close to 1,300 families, mostly Bengali Muslims, were evicted from around 10,000 bighas of land in the drive. The multi-crore Gorukhuti agriculture project started soon after the eviction.
The Assam government's data shows 10,620 families have been evicted from government land since 2016, 5,854 of which have been evicted since May 20, 2022. Four deaths have been reported in these eviction drives.
