Samvidhaan ki Pathalgadi; Petition challenging sedition cases against thousands of Adivasis in Jharkhand

As elections approach in Jharkhand, the participants of the Pathalgadi movement in Khunti, Jharkhand near the state capital in Ranchi are exploring a different scenario to it. The Adivasi villages are discussing on whether or not to boycott the said elections a part of the Pathalgadi movement. The Scroll.in visited Khunti to know about the political dynamics of the protest. Pathalgadi movement translates to the laying of the stones. It can be traced to 2017, where people from the Adivasi community began to lay stone monoliths which contained engraved provisions of the Indian Constitution at Khunti, Jharkhand. The engravings or monoliths on the stone concerns with the exclusive autonomy granted to the Adivasi area under the Fifth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. While it began, it was confronted by the state authorities, with the police resorting to a crackdown and filing court cases against thousands of people involved in the movement. In an attempt by Scroll.in, it has managed to access nineteen First Information Reports [FIRs] as filed by the Khunti police from June 2017 to July 2018. These FIRs name approximately 11,200 people were charging them with offences under the Indian Penal Code for having to ‘disturb public order’. One prominent factor which has emerged in all the said FIRs is the offence under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code [IPC] relating to the archaic provision of sedition. It is often said to be ‘a colonial hangover’, as the British used it to muzzle dissent against the government. It has been unfortunate that despite widespread protest against the text of the said provision, it continues to exist in the penal code, in its original form. As per the version of the rule, anyone who excites or attempts to stir within the masses, a feeling of disaffection against the government is considered to have committed the offence of sedition. The punishment for this offence of speech extends to lifetime imprisonment. 

It is believed that 11,200 is just a partial number, as there are surely more than only 19 FIRs registered against the participants of the Pathalgadi movement. Scroll.in has revealed that on an examination of these FIRs, they were able to examine 132 people by name, of which 43 are village chief and rest ‘unknown’. The state-sponsored criminalization of the protestors is a rather unfortunate incident to be witnessed in the champion of democracy. It has set a precedent in the region, instilling fear amongst the people that the police can implicate anyone in a criminal case. One, Birsa Munda, the customary chief of the Bhandara village, when interviewed by Scroll.in revealed that he had been charged with three charges of sedition, one in 2017 and two in 2018 although he says that before being accused he had never heard of the offence of sedition. 

It is instilled by changes in the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908. 

The legacy of rebellion is in the blood of these fiery ancestors of Birsa Movement. He led a movement for the passing of the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 seeking to offer protection to the tribal landowners. It was only when again in 2016, Bhartiya Janta Party [BJP] diluted the provisions of the said tenancy Act that the Pathalgadi movement kicked off. It can be seen to start when Bhandara on March 03, 2017 became the first village to erect a painted green stone monolith with engravings of the provision of the Indian Constitution. One Mangal Munda, also interviewed by Scroll.in said that the CNT Act is being amended by the government to give away tribal lands to big companies. He also revealed that 12kms away from his village, in Chukuru, land acquisition has started to build the new capital Greater Ranchi. He says that the same is being done ‘without the approval of the gram sabha’. He also explains for the stone to be the symbol of protest. He calls it ‘old practice of their ancestors’. He says right from the time of birth until death, we make everything using stones and thus felt it was appropriate to display the rights of the Adivasis, as granted under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution to be posted by engravings on the stone. They call it their idea and not anyone else to install stone monoliths with excerpts from the Constitution and called it- Samvidhan ki Pathalgadi. They said, a board might fade or fall, but engravings on a stone shall stay forever.

‘Masterminds’ of Pathalgadi Movement

The awareness amongst the residents of the villages regarding their rights under the 5th Schedule was instilled by meetings organized by some urban Adivasi intellectuals. As informed and reported, these intellectuals are led by one Vijay Kujur who is the manager in the Shipping Corporation of India. These group of intellectuals have said to revive the Adivasi Mahasabha, which was established by Jaipal Singh Munda in the year 1938. These intellectuals have been named as ‘masterminds’ of the protest as per the FIRs registered. 

The stone engraved monoliths invokes four Articles of the Indian Constitution- namely Article 13(3)(a), Article 19(5), Article 19(6) and paragraph 5(1) of Article 244(1)(b). The engravings are not verbatim and instead of an interpretation of the Adivasis in the region. These interpretations are not unprecedented and have been propounded by the courts in few judgments, allowing an expansive interpretation of the same. 

Writ petition challenging the sedition cases against Adivasis in Khunti, Jharkhand.

The allegedly false FIRs filed against thousands of people in the Khunti district of Jharkhand has not gone without a response. Advocate Sunil Vishwakarma has challenges these FIRs in the High Court on behalf of Adivasi Nyay Manch. Adivasi Nyay Manch is a newly formed village organization, constituted on June 09 in Bhandara village of Khunti. The organization is seeking for the cases to be transferred to a particular investigation agency for a free, fair and independent investigation. As per papers submitted with the petition, the objective of the said organization is to stand for the Adivasis. The ones who have been implicated in the sedition cases in Khunti. The primary respondents in the said case are the Jharkhand government and the police departments. The writ petition was filed and admitted by the High Court which has served copies of the petition to the respondents. The hearing in the matter remains pending. 

The petition is categorical. It highlights that while the police allege ‘the wrong interpretation of the Constitution’, it has failed to establish what was wrong about the interpretation which was engraved regarding the constitutional provisions and ethos. The petition stated that the offence under Section 124(A) of the IPC, relating to sedition, has been added without any convincing evidence. It is said to have been instituted by the ‘self-statement of trainee and probationary police officers’ despite the matter concerns to the provisions of the Indian Constitution and the 5th Schedule which grants autonomy to the Adivasi community.

Further, the petition states that the cases against the protestors filed by the police concern the ‘tribal custom, rule and culture’. However, a report by Scroll.in suggests that the investigating officers have neither looked at these aspects, nor have they analyzed the special autonomy granted to them under the Fifth Schedule. It states that the ‘use and importance’ of the Pathalgadi movement was not enquired into. It says engraving and installing stone monoliths are a part of the Adivasi tradition.