Against Land Mafia-Administration Nexus in Champaran
THE struggle led by CPIML for ‘fazil’ land (distribution of surplus land) under the land ceiling began 30 years ago in Singhpur, Mainatand and Belwa Tola villages in Mainatand Block of Western Champaran. This land belonged to Yogapatti absentee landlord Vinod Prasad, son of Paras Prasad. The poor and dalits freed this land through struggles and started farming and settling here. After a long drawn-out ceiling dispute, 44.84 acres of land was recorded in the District gazette on 13 May 2013 as ‘fazil’ land under the land ceiling act. But even after the publication of the gazette, the land was not acquired and the poor were not given parchas.
Meanwhile, the 44.84 acres were registered in the names of 24 people including the landlord and his relatives. Based on these registration documents, a land mafia lord Jawahar Sah filed a petition in the Patna High Court for ownership rights on this land. The HC rejected his claim on 26 March 2015 and registered a criminal case against the 24 people in whose names the fraudulent registration had taken place and the officials responsible for the fraud. However, a criminal case was also registered against the 14 poor persons who had settled on and cultivated the land for the past 30 years.
Using money and power, the mafia landlords succeeded in sending the matter to the District level administration. After that, mafia-Ministers nexus used their power to pass an order for the eviction of the poor. Recently Ramadhar Mahto (part of the mafia nexus) filed a false case of crop-loot in the Mainatand Thana on 10 November 2019 against the poor of Singhpur. Warrants for the arrest of the poor were issued the very next day, whereas they had only harvested the crops sown by them on the land they had cultivated for the last 30 years. Many such false cases of crop-loot have been filed earlier also. On 16 November the mafia-officials nexus looted 8 acres of crops on this land and crushed the remaining crops under their tractors.
On 19 November the CPIML organized a protest meeting at Narkatiyaganj against this blatant violation of the law and justice. The demands made through the protest meeting were: immediately end eviction of the poor using false interpretation of the Court order in CWJC 424/2016; give to the poor the 44.84 acres of land declared ‘fazil’ under land ceiling in the Gazette on 13 May 2013; withdraw the false cases registered against the poor on 10 November 2019; immediate withdrawal of Mainatand case No. 91/19 and suspension of Mainatand Thana in-charge and Deputy Superintendent and probe into their nexus with the land mafia; registeration of case against those who looted the crops of the poor on 16 November 2019; distribution of all ‘fazil’ land in the District among the poor.
The meeting was addressed by CPIML District secretary Arun, Block Secretary Sanjay Ram, AIARLA District Secretary Mukhtar Miyan, Indradev Kushwaha, Nazre Alam, Sitaram Ram, Akshay Lal Ram, Lalji Yadav and others.
