Is it a Crime to Protect Our Forest ?

Arjun Nag & Umamaheshwar Rao

The village Sandhkarmari is situated in central Bastar in Chhattisgarh, quite close to the Odisha border. The Bhatra tribe constitutes the majority of the population, with a sprinkling of other groups such as the Gonds, the Durwas and the Mahras. The village is large and spread out and interspersed with small forest patches and rice fields, and is adjacent to the Reserve Forest. For more than two decades the people of Sandhkarmari, inspired by their Sarpanch, have been protecting a large tract of forest in their village; households take turns to patrol the forest and prevent any destructive activities.

The main source of income for the people of Sandhkarmari is the forest; this is supplemented by the crops they grow through rainfed agriculture. As most people do not have large land holdings the forest plays a vital role in bringing prosperity to the people: this may explain why the forest is so important to them.

Over the years the people of Sandhkarmari have struggled against forest mafia to protect their forest, and they have sacrificed much to do this. They even stopped the weekly market – usually a matter of pride for the people of any village – at their village as that led to the illegal transport of wood and forest product from their village forest. These were the circumstances when Legal and Environmental Action Forum (LEAF) started forest protection and conservation in this area, with people’s participation in sustainable harvesting of Nontimber Forest Products (NTFPs); trade in NTFPs; awareness of forest-related issues; health; legal aid; establishment and maintenance of a nursery, etc.

In 2009, the people planted 5000 native species of mango saplings in their community forest.

Potiyawand is the neighboring village to Sandhkarmari. Some years ago the people of Potiyawand too enjoyed the abundant resources from their forest. However, over the last three decades the trend of selling their forests began and, over time, much of the surrounding forests vanished. This led to the remaining bits of forests being encroached and converted into agricultural land. The people of Potiyawand became fully dependent on Sandhkarmari village forests for their domestic and agricultural implements. Not only that, the Potiyawand people continued their practice of illegal cutting and transporting of timber from the Sandhkarmari forest!

Seeing these destructive activities, the people of Sandhkarmari people were distressed and became more active in forest protection. Due to their activeness the Potiyawand people felt constrained in their pursuit of illegal activities in the forest. A sort of cold war situation emerged between the people of the two villages which soon changed into open antagonism. Then one day the Potiyawand people went to the local Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and other politiciansto demand that some forest land belonging to Sandhkarmari be allotted to Potiyawand. The politicians and forest officials suggested forming a Village Van Suraksha Samiti (VVSS); they were told that they could then get some patches of Sandhkarmari’s community forest. The Potiyawand people formed the required Samiti which made the people of Sandhkarmari anxious about their forest. Then an incident occurred on 3rd January 2010.

At 11.00 am on 3rd January some members of the forest protection group of Sandhkarmari informed their Sarpanch (Mr. Damodar Kashyap) that about 30 people from Potiyawand were cutting their forest. Hearing this, the Sarpanch and otherpeople from Sandhkarmari went to the Forest Department officials and requested them to stop the clearing of the forest being done by Potiyawand people. The Forest officials did not care to act. The people of Sandhkarmari then went to the area of forest where the people of Potiyawand were active and asked them not to destroy the forest. The Potiyawand continued their clearing, watched all the time by the Forest officials who had walked over to the scene of action; in fact the Forest officials seemed to support the Potiyawand people. Mutual allegations began with the Forest officials people openly siding with those who were destroying the forest! Soon the heated exchange of words led to a physical expression of opinions in which one Forest official sustained a minor injury.

The people of Sandhkarmari confiscated the axes and other tools used by the Potiyawand people and, in the general confusion that ensued, the people from both sides were bruised. The Potiyawand people, along with the Forest official, lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against the members of VVSS Sandhkarmari at the Karpawand police station. The Sandhkarmari people also lodged a complaint against the Potiyawand people and the Forest Department.

After this incident the Sandhkarmari people were very angry and they wanted to go and fight with Potiyawand people. The Sarpanch of Sandhkarmari informed LEAF about the situation and requested help to prevent the matter from worsening. On 9th January, members of LEAF attended a meeting in Sandhkarmari where the general question was “is there something wrong if villagers protect their forests?” It was an odd situation that threatened to get out of control. It took a lot of persuation from Damodar and some of the members of LEAF to calm the people; the consensus was that despite so much forest protection their forests were being destroyed, but it was incorrect to take the law into their own hands to set the matter right. In fact, the gathering realized that such instances may happen more frequently and resolved that “if such incidents occur in future we will unite and face the problem peacefully through proper channels in accordance with the law.”

On the basis of the FIR filed by the Potiyawand people, the Karpawand Police commenced investigation and brought 11 persons of the VVSS Sandhkarmari to court in Jagdalpur on 11th January. The people of Sandhkarmari were so shocked that they did not have their meals. The news spread to all the surrounding villages and to all the centers of LEAF. There were numerous place phone calls from wellwishers wanting to know about the possibility of bail for the VVSS members. The elders and priests from Sandhkarmari were worshipping their village deity for the release of their sons of the soil from the police station. The Karpawand Police intentionally submitted the final report of the case very late on the same day before the Hon’ble Judicial Magistrate of First Class (JMFC), Jagdalpur, along with 11 people. The policemade a false case against the Sandhkarmari‘s VVSS members mentioning that they had assaulted the Forest officials and the Potiyawand people; the assault on a government employee made the case a non bail-able offence.

An application for bail was submitted by the advocates of LEAF. They argued that accused are member of VVSS Sandhkarmari and LEAF who, due to their untiring efforts, had saved their village forest. The advocates also presented all the activities which were undertaken by the accused to conserve their forests and wildlife, the maintenance of an indigenous species nursery, and the planting of 5000 local varieties of mango saplings in their community forest in August, 2009. The advocates also clarified that the Sandhkarmari people did not hurt the Potiyawand people; and that due to the plans ofthe Forest Department and the Potiyawand people having failed such a false complaint has been lodged against the people of Sandhkarmari. Further, the advocates alleged that the people of Potiyawand have encroached into the forests of Sandhkarmari and have illegally felled trees in the Sandhkarmari forests with the support of Forest Department. This issue was also filed as a complaint against Potiyawand people and the Department in the Karpawand Police station the same day; the police, however, had hidden the complaint and submitted only the Potiyawand and the Department’s report to the court.

Hearing this submission by the advocates of LEAF the Hon’ble Court wanted to know about the position of complaint made by the Sandhkarmari people against the people from Potiyawand andForest Department to Karpawand police. There was no satisfactory answer by the Karpawand police; neither was there a medical report to support the prosecution. It became clear to the court that the people of Sandhkarmari had been manipulated by the people of Potiyawand and Forest Department as well as by the police.

January being a cold winter month the daylight hours are also very short; at 1730 hrs, when the court closes, it began to get dark. Seeing the situation people of Sandhkarmari and Damodar were very nervous, with little hope of procuring bail for their people. Damodar then vowed that “without getting bail he will not return to his village”.

During these hours many people from Sandhkarmari people were wandering about in the premises of the court and LEAF’s office; some people were standing on the road; some were trying to contact their families with news about the bail. It was a tense situation for LEAF’s advocates as well as the people from Sandhkarmari. On this day, the Hon’ble court was overworked but despite that the court dealt with our case and finally ordered us to submit the required documents to release the Sandhkarmari’s people on bail. It was around 1930 hrs when the message reached the LEAF office that “we got the bail order”. At once everybody’s face broke up into a smile and they hugged and congratulated each other.

By 2000 hrs all the eleven people were released on bail from the court and came to LEAF’s office. The mood was victorious and called for a traditional celebration with mahua, Bastar’s ceremonial drink. The night was a long and merry one!