THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi, Sept 4: The central government today informed the Jharkhand High Court that the situation of infiltration of Bangladeshis in Santhal Pargana is alarming. “Due to this, the demography of the area is getting affected,” it added.
Appearing online, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta said the decline in the share of tribal population is also a serious issue.
“Infiltrators can enter other states of the country through Jharkhand and affect the population there. The central government will soon file a comprehensive reply in the court after consultation with all its stakeholders IB, BSF etc. in this matter,” he said. The meeting of all the stakeholders is to be held soon.
Next hearing on September 12
Hearing the PIL, a division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Arun Kumar Rai accepted Mehta’s request and fixed the next hearing of this case on September 12.
Mehta also urged the court to remove IB from the list of respondents in this case, as it has many confidential information which cannot be made public.
The court asked him to apply on behalf of the central government.
Notably, during the hearing on this petition on August 22, the court expressed displeasure over the Central Government, Intelligence Bureau, UIDAI, and BSF’s non-filing of replies.
Lawyer Rajendra Krishna’s plea
Appearing on behalf of a social activist, Rajendra Krishna 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.
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During the previous hearing, the state government was ordered to take action with the Special Branch’s help to ensure infiltrators’ identification. Deputy commissioners of all the six districts of Santhal Pargana division were also directed not to issue Aadhaar, ration, voter and BPL cards without matching them with the land records. The court had also said that it cannot be said that the documents based on which ration, voter or Aadhaar cards have been made are legitimate. Due to this, people are also being deprived of their rights in the public welfare schemes of the state government.
The PIL has been filed by Jamshedpur resident Daniel Danish.
His lawyer Rajiv Kumar stated that Bangladeshi intruders are coming to Jharkhand from the border areas of Jharkhand like Jamtara, Pakur, Godda, Sahibganj etc. “This is hurting the population of these districts. A large number of madrasas are being established in these districts. Matrimonial relations are being made with local tribals,” he added.
