Decades-Long Struggle Of Singphos In Their Own Land And A Viral Video

Let’s start with the latest. Just a few days back, a video captured the attention of netizens and eventually went viral, where a young woman and a human rights activist were seen arguing with administrative officials at a village near Jagun of Assam’s Tinsukia district.

The video showed the young woman activist to have engaged in vociferous arguments with the officials to establish land rights of her community. Her audacious arguments are a reflection of the feeling of being desolated for decades from enjoying the rights and facilities in their own land. It reflects the fear of the indigenous people of turning into pauperized strangers in their own land.

A deep dive into the matter reveals the reasons why indigenous tribes, especially the Singphos in the ‘Tirap Tribal Belt’ of Tinsukia fear losing their land and why an existential crisis has deeply crept into their minds. 

A Snapshot:

Nang Jitong Shan is a young woman Human Rights activist who stood firm to her ground while arguing with the officials in the video that went viral. She is the great-granddaughter of the Kotha Gam Singpho alias Lt. Kotha Jawra Singpho, the chief of a Singpho clan, who was also a freedom fighter. While Kotha Gam Singpho passed away decades back, his heir Seng Gam Singpho is still alive, a witness of the ticklish struggles and atrocities to save his land. 

‘Kotha’ describes the clan and Gam is the title that is conferred upon the elder son of the descendants of the Chief’s family. 

The village where Jitong Shan was seen confronting the officials is the Kotha Gam Singpho village, which is now termed the ‘Kotha Gaon’, around 9/10 kilometres away from Jagun. 

On the day when the verbal confrontation of the villagers led by Jitong was recorded, the Singpho chief family went to reclaim their ancestral land from the alleged occupation of one Chetry. 

Speaking exclusively to Pratidin Time, Jitong said—“Land has been forcefully occupied by the Chetry family since the 1990s. This is illegal because the land belongs to the protected Tirap Tribal Belt, where only the indigenous tribals have the right to own it. On 10th March we went to reclaim our land that was forcefully occupied by Pradip Chetry in September 2024. We sought police protection but in vain.”

“The police and the administration have utterly failed to provide us the constitutional protection we owe. They rather take the side of the encroachers”—Jitong said while adding—“The land that Pradip and Dipak Chetry want to occupy is just adjacent to the home of Seng Gam Singpho. It’s a homestead land. How can someone else take it away?”

What culminated on 10th March has a long history to trace. 

Lengthy Struggle To Protect Land in “Tribal Protected Belt’ Declared in 1951:

One of the early inhabitants of Assam, the Singphos is an indigenous tribal community of Assam having their primary habitat in the Assam-Arunachal border. The Tirap Tribal Belt was declared in the year 1951 (13th March). Going with the idea of Tribal Belts and Blocks in Assam, the Tirap Belt was also created with the aim of protecting indigenous communities like Singpho, Sema, Khamti, Khamyang, Turung, Aiton and their land. 

At the time of British Colonial rule in 1943, the Tirap Frontier tract was created Head Quartered at Margherita for the protection of indigenous Tribal communities. After independence, The Government of Assam notified Tirap Frontier Tract (T.F.T) as Tirap Tribal Belt.

However, indigenous people of the protected belt bear testimonies of sheer negligence of the Governments of Assam to protect the indigenous interest. 

Two Narratives

With time and with changes in the demography of the state, the Singphos have become a micro tribe.  Protecting their ancestral land and their culture and for that matter, their existence is rooted in conflicts centred around land in the Tirap Tribal Belt. Their narrative from the Kotha Gam Singpho village (Kotha Gaon) points towards some bothering issues.  

Jitong Shan narrated the conflict in the 1990s to Pratidin Time where she posed mounting allegations of government and administrative apathy. “It was late Krishna Bahadur Chetry who forcefully grabbed the land belonging to the Kotha Gam Singpho, the chief of the clan. It has been well known in our village how late Chetry grabbed land by putting a sword on my great grandfather (Kotha Gam Singpho) and assaulted my grandfather (son of Kotha Gam Singpho) Seng Gam Singpho. That was an extremely concerning issue and the administration failed to protect the indigenous rights. Contrarily, false cases were imposed on our forefathers.”

An engaging fight is what we can imagine in case of any land conflict and after three decades, it is really hard to say firmly who lost what. However, the matter involved a protected tribal belt of Assam which is why the matter becomes profoundly serious. 

Eventually, the alleged land grabbing by Chetry took shape and in April 2009, the then SDO (civil) of Margherita passed an order stating that Krishna Bahadur Chetry does not have any locus standi as regards the land in question and the second party (Chetry) was restrained from entering the land. According to Jitong, this restraint order was regarding the land that Krishna Bahadur Chetry grabbed forcefully. 

Documents as received by Pratidin Time.

Again in 2012, the circle officer(rev) of Margherita Revenue Circle, in a letter to SDO (civil) mentioned that the Land Advisory Board allotted 32 bighas of land in favour of Krishna Bahadur Chetry and his 3 brothers in 2005. The circle officer also mentioned that the session court, Tinsukia turned down Chetry’s revision petition of the earlier restraint order by SDO (civil) (April 2009). The circle officer also mentioned that “without any documents, it is difficult to say whether they are (Chetrys) eligible for settlement of Govt. land in the Tirap Tribal Belt”.

Documents as received by Pratidin Time.

Jitong told us another story of land grabbing, this time by one Dipak Kr Bharali a resident of Dibrugarh. She alleges that Bharali grabbed 265 acres of land and tea-established tea gardens. A case is still pending in this regard. 

“In that case, the police played a heinous role. The in-charge of the Lekhapani police station Mr. Ghanakanta Bora tortured Seng Gam Singpho brutally, he was chained and dragged to the police station. Seng Gam Singpho was falsely implicated. Mr. Bora also took our ancestral possessions— heirloom, ancestral sword, gun and the certificate of the owner of the entire land that the British gave us. The police couldn’t take any step against Bharali but false cases were imposed on Seng Gam Singpho”—she alleges. Jitong further added that though the Singpho family wrote to the DC, but nothing happened. 

The Latest Scenario and the Viral Video:

Despite the restraint order and the official letters, the land conflict was not settled and on September 2, 2024, Pradip Chetry, the son of the late Krishna Bahadur Chetry went to the homestead land adjacent to Seng Gam Singpho’s present residence, according to Jitong. The homestead land is a sprawling  32/33 bighas plot. 

“On that day Pradip Chetry came with hired individuals armed with ‘dao’ to intimidate us. His party ran a JCB (bulldozer) in the homestead land destroying trees, plants and boundary walls as well. Chetry was openly threatening villagers not to interfere, but couldn’t stop my family from intervening into it. Chetry told us that he did this after the police (station in-charge) and circle officer told him to do so. When we asked about the written order, Chetry failed to show and said that he was told verbally. Chetry however showed a Gauhati High Court notice, which was actually a withdrawal notice.”—Jitong said.

Seng Gam Singpho’s elder sister Jadim Singpho went to the HC against the land dispute saying that Chetry family had illegally grabbed their ancestral land. Eventually, the Singpho family withdrew the case from the HC pertaining of the huge recurring money needed to carry the case. Their counsel Santanu Borthakur also advised them to withdraw it while demanding for implementation of the previous restraining order by SDO (civil). 

“The HC notice was in no way a permission to Chetry family to settle in our land. We withdrew the case and Pradip Chetry showed it to us. When I said this, he verbally abused me”—Jitong told.

Jitong narrated a long drama on that day when they went to police to lodge FIR against Chetry. She told that Lekhapani police station incharge (O/C) Nitu Changmai vehemently denied to register the FIR, rather he said that the police have instruction from ‘above’.

“The All Assam Sema Naga Council president was present at the police station with Uma Singpho, son of Jadim Singpho and he told police that if a communal clash erupts the police will be responsible. Only then the O/C came into role and called up the Gaonburha (Gaon Pradhan) and then only Chetry stopped the bulldozer. However, no FIR was registered and we were asked to approach the circle officer"--she said. 

The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act), 1989

Viewing the entire issue as a clear case of violation of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Singpho family wrote to the circle officer of Margherita revenue circle with a copy to DC, SP, SDO (civil) and O/C, Lekhapani police station on 3rd September 2024. There, they clearly mentioned that the case goes against the SC/ST Act. 

Refusing to stop there, the family of Seng Gam Singpho approached the National Commission of Schedule Tribes in September 2024. The letter seemed to have been taken seriously by the commission and the Singhpho family could see a silver lining. On 30th January 2025, the commission gave notice to the DC and SP of Tinsukia to reply to the commission about the action taken on the allegations within 15 days. Pratidin Time couldn’t retract the notice from the internet. 

“However, after two and half months since the notice was served to the DC and SP, we don’t know what status the matter holds”—Jitong said. 

 Pratidin Time reached out to Pallav Shyam Wailung, general secretary of the Tirap Autonomous District Council Demand Committee (TADCDC) over the matter of indigenous plight. Mr. Wailung approved Jitong’s testimony and said that Bharali’s tea gardens are still there, while the case against him has gone into oblivion.

India Voted In Favour of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in 2007

“India is a strong supporter of the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples. We supported the adoption of UNDRIP in 2007. India is supportive of the process of enhancing the participation of indigenous peoples and institutions in relevant meetings of the UN on issues affecting them as per the UNGA resolution A/RES/70/232. We appreciate the collective efforts made by the Advisors, Member States and Indigenous Peoples towards this resolution”—writes the website of the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, which suggests India’s support for the protection of the rights of indigenous people. 

However, gaps between the commitment to the world and its implementation on the ground are apparent. Mr. Wailung pointed to this when he said—“The Government of Assam Grossly violates different articles of UNDRIP like article 29, which confers Indigenous people the right to conserve and protect the environment of the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources. The state shall establish and implement assistance programs for Indigenous people for such conservation and protection without discrimination.”

“For decades, Indigenous rights have not been protected in the Tirap belt, even after voting for the UNDRIP in 2007”—Wailung added. 

Violation of Assam Land and Revenue Regulation Act?

Pallav Shyam Wailung told Pratidin Time that the cases of land grabbing in the Tirap Tribal Belt have been testimonies of sheer violation of the ALRR (Assam Land and Revenue Regulation) Act, 1886 and its amendment of 1947. 

“The 1947 amendment introduced chapter X which confers protection of land rights in the protected tribal belts and blocks in Assam. This was done in the time of Gopinath Bordoloi. But Tirap Tribal Belt has witnessed the historical failure of its implementation that lingers till today”—Wailung said.

“The new land policy of 2019 also has the provisions, but the BJP government that vows to protect Land, Base and community (Jati, Mati, Bheti) has also failed to protect the indigenous tribals of Assam”—he added.

Wailung said that Margherita LAC should be reserved for the ST apart from asserting his demands for Tirap Autonomous District Council. “We have written multiple letters to various authorities including revenue secretary, CM and Ranoj Pegu, but failed to have gathered the required attention”—he said.

Noted lawyer of Assam Santanu Borthakur speaking to Pratidin Time said—“The Gauhati High Court mandated in the Prodyut Bora case that people belonging to the non-protected class should be removed from the tribal belts and blocks.”

“Earlier the ‘Nepali Graziers’ were allowed to be settled in these areas having the ‘Grazier’ certificate. This was in place from 1957-58 but was withdrawn in 1968. In 1991 this was brought back again. But now, with the new land policy, all the Nepalis are brought under one community named ‘Gorkha’ and they are levied to have land rights in these protected belts”—Borthakur explained. 

Borthakur termed some provisions of the new land policy as an effort to secure the vote base of different communities by the ruling party. “When other indigenous communities of Assam can’t get land right in all the protected belts and blocks, the Gorkhas can avail the facility now. For example, Ahoms can buy land at Sadiya and the Koch Rajbangshis in Goalpara, but they can’t in other protected belts and blocks. The Gorkhas can buy in all the protected belts and blocks. In reality, the present government stands contrary to the interests of indigenous communities of Assam”—He added. 

The Present and the Wait..

On 4th of March 2025, the Singpho family, in a letter urged the DC, Tinsukia, to provide them armed protection for 10th March when they would reclaim their ancestral land that was bulldozed on 2nd September 2024. However, the administration refused to provide them the protection, told Jitong.

On March 10 when the Singpho family went to reclaim their land (with bulldozer/JCB), they found the presence of police and commandoes on the spot. 

With a serious allegation, Jitong told us—“The magistrate was also present and tried to intimidate us and stop us from reclaiming our own land.”  When asked to show notice to stop us from reclaiming our land, the magistrate said “Why do you need an order? I have come here, a high-ranked officer has come. Why do you need an order?”—Jitong said. 

There were a lot of verbal confrontations involving Jitong and others of the Singpho family and police and administrative officials. The viral video recorded a part of it.

Notably, in a letter from ADC (Additional District Commissioner) (rev), Tinsukia, urged the co-district commissioner of Margherita co-district (this post was earlier called as SDO civil) to submit a detailed report regarding the land encroachment within 10 days. The letter was issued on 4th March. “However”, Jitong said—“we received a copy of this on March 11, one day after we went to reclaim our land.”

Well, what will be an end to this conflict remains a matter to be seen—whether protection of the indigenous tribes of Assam is ensured or they would have to struggle more, for years or decades. 

The family of Seng Gam Singpho is not alone, there were histories of other fights, as Balindra Saikia, Assam secretary of AICCTU (All India Central Committee of Trade Unions) said—“Prasanna Turung and his wife unleashed such a fight in the early 2000s to save their land from the mafias. They went missing and the police grossly failed to find out the culprits." This speaks volumes about the decade-long atrocities of the indigenous communities of Assam at Tirap belt and elsewhere. 

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