Kathua Rape Case: lack of forest act led to friction among locals

The brutal gangrape and murder of the 8-year-old minor girl from Jammu's Kathua which has numbed the nation has brought to the fore the fault lines regarding the implementation of Forest Rights Act (FRA) in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Gujjar-Bakarwal Tribe, to which the victim belonged to, has for long demanded that the FRA be extended to J&K, so that they can legally seek land titles. The predominantly Muslim nomadic Bakarwal Tribe, which mostly rears dairy animals, move to the highlands in Kashmir valley during summer and in winters they are in the plains of Jammu, mostly on forest land. This has been the source of friction over land with urban expansion happening rapidly in Jammu and other districts. Unlike the rest of the country, FRA has not been implemented by any state government in the state since it was passed. In addition, there is no state forest law that gives title deeds to Tribal communities which means the nomads have no legal claims to using forest land that they have been using for years as grazing areas or to harvest minor forest produce, making them encroachers in eyes of forest bureaucracy.

To seek a recourse, the Gujjar-Bakarwal community, which constitute around 11 per cent of the state's population and are notified as Scheduled Tribe, has been demanding for the implementation of FRA. But, ever since the PDP-BJP combine came to power, the forest ministry, handled by the BJP, has taken out extensive eviction drives against the nomads, deepening the faultlines in Jammu.

Then, the gangrape and murder of the minor girl and a government decision exacerbated the issue. In February, during a meeting of the Tribal Affairs Department, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti decided that no Tribals would be disturbed or dislocated till a Tribal policy was formed, and directed police to seek permission of the Tribal Department before evicting them. This was viewed by many in Jammu as an attempt to support what they termed land grabbers.

Jammu-based lawyer Ankur Sharma who had come out against the government's February decision said that there is a demographic change happening and attempts are being made to perpetuate encroachments. "The government was trying to give the nomadic tribe immunity from grabbing forest land. This has been done to allow a clear demographic change."

"The government should think of extending the FRA to J&K and they should also consult multiple stakeholders to prepare a tribal policy," said Zafar Choudhary, author and political analyst.