Mizoram
II. Human rights violations by the security forces
V. Violations of the rights of the
child
I. Overview
Ruled by the Mizo National Front, the State government
of Mizoram failed to take appropriate measures to address the serious human
rights problems in the State. Not a single Bru
internally displaced persons (IDPs) who took shelter in Tripura State since
their expulsion from Mizoram in 1997 returned. A survey conducted by Mizoram
Bru Displaced Peoples Forum found that 94.22% of the Bru IDPs had documentation
to prove the bonafide residence in Mizoram
35,438 persons representing about 40%
of the total Chakma population in Mizoram) were displaced due to the building
of the fence along the 318 km-long international border with Bangladesh.
The State Government
failed to curb vigilante violence. Members of Young Mizo Association (YMA) continued
to take the law into their own hands. On 8 May 2007, one Mr Lalbiakliana was
allegedly tortured to death by activists of Young Mizo Association after he was
‘arrested’ by a YMA anti-drug and alcohol squad for allegedly possessing ganja
in Mizoram.
Though women generally
enjoyed freedom in the society, there has been a steady rise of crime
against women and children in Mizoram.
II.
Human rights violations by the security forces
The security
forces were responsible for torture and custodial death. The National Human
Rights Commission did not receive any reports of custodial death by the
security forces from Mizoram during the period 1 April 2006 – 31 March 2007.
On the night
of 23 January 2007, 30-year-old
Mr Hrangchhingpuia, resident of Hourang village in Lunglei district was
allegedly tortured to death in the custody of excise police after he was
arrested for selling local made liquor. However, the excise officials claimed
that he hanged himself in the lock up.
On the night of 28 March 2007,
two persons identified as P Vanlallawma and
Lalchamliana were allegedly beaten up Border
Security Force (BSF) personnel at Tlabung in Lunglei district. They were
detained while returning home after looking for work.
III.
The Bru crisis
a.
Failure to repatriate the Brus
By the end of 2007, the government of
Mizoram failed to repatriate the Brus from the relief camps in Tripura. The Bru
indigenous peoples had fled to Tripura in 1997 following organized attacks
against them by the Mizos.
The state government of Mizoram has refused
to repatriate the Brus on the ground that not all of them were genuine
residents of Mizoram and due to the opposition from the influential Mizo NGOs
including Young Mizo Association (YMA) and Mizo Zirlai Pawl (Mizo students
union, MZP). Although the Brus themselves claim that there are 29,000 persons
in the relief camps in Tripura, the government of Mizoram claims that only 543
Bru families (3,189 persons) fled the state in 1997.
On 26 April 2005, a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Government of Mizoram and the Bru
National Liberation front (BNLF), an insurgent group. In the MoU, the state of
Mizoram admitted its obligation/duty to repatriate and resettle the
Reangs/Brus, but again questioned the “genuineness” and/or bonafide inhabitance
of the Reangs/Brus. The MoU was signed without the consent of the Brus living in
relief camps.
About 1,000 members of the Bru
National Liberation Front (BNLF) have so far laid down their arms after the
signing of the MoU with the government of Mizoram in April 2005 and the
government has provided them with rehabilitation in Mizoram. Yet, in March
2007, the state government of Mizoram entrusted three Mizo non-governmental
organizations - the Young Mizo Association, Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (the
apex body of the Mizo women) and Mizo Zirlai Pawl (Mizo students union) to
verify the credentials of the former Bru rebels. All of the groups are well
known for their anti minority stands. The NGOs reportedly identified 40 former
Bru rebels as non-residents of Mizoram.
The contention of the state of Mizoram
is false. In October-November 2007, the Mizoram Bru Displaced Peoples Forum
(MBDPF) conducted an on-the-spot survey of 5,328 families residing in the six
relief camps at Kanchanpur sub-division of Tripura. According to the survey of
the MBDPF, 94.22% of the Reangs/Brus in the relief camps have at least one
document each, issued by the State of Mizoram, its local authorities as well as
constitutional bodies, namely, the Election Commission of India to prove that
their bonafide/natural place of inhabitance is Mizoram.
Since April 2007, the state government
of Mizoram held a series of talks with the MBDPF, the last round of discussion
being held on 21 November 2007, but no result emerged. In order to prevent the
Brus and the Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Network (AITPN), an NGO
working for the rights of the tribal and indigenous peoples, from filing a writ
petition before the Supreme Court of India for its intervention for early
repatriation of the Brus to Mizoram, the Home Secretary, Government of Mizoram,
who was the Chairman of the meeting warned the Bru leaders against going to the
Supreme Court. The Home Secretary, Government of Mizoram warned the Bru
representatives “not to file petition in the Supreme Court as it can create
serious repercussion among the general public which may lead to further delay
in the process of repatriation… ”
b.
Miserable camp conditions
Presently, a total of 29,545 Brus are
living in six relief camps in Tripura. Their camp-wise population is as
follows: Kashirampur – 15,499 persons; Longtraikami - 5,137 persons; Hazachara
- 2,593 persons; Kashau A & B - 3,305 persons; Khakchang - 1,243 persons
and Hamsapara - 1,768 persons.
They conditions in the camps are poor.
Since 2001, babies are included only in the census but not in the relief cards denying
them access to food. Those who have become adult in the last six years continue
to be given rations as minor. The ration quota is so inadequate that the Brus
do not even report deaths as it will mean a further reduction of rations being
provided.
Presently, a Bru adult gets cash of Rs
2.90 per day and a minor gets Rs 1.45 per day. 450 grams of rice is being
provided to per adult Bru per day while 225 gram rice is being provided to per
minor per day. This ration is highly inadequate. Yet, on 15 October 2007, the
Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, Government of Tripura
reduced the monthly rice allocation being provided to the relief camps under
the Public Distribution System (PDS), inter alia, on the ground that there is
no separate allocation of rice from the Government of India for them.
Medical facilities are almost
non-existent. Only when health conditions seriously deteriorate do doctors
visit the camps. The conditions of children and pregnant women are the worst.
As there are no primary health care centers, pregnant women are forced to
deliver their babies at the relief camps. Maternal mortality is high. and as are also the common diseases.
Most tube wells are out of order. The
Brus are forced to drink water from streams and ponds resulting in high levels
of water-born diseases. Sanitation facilities are non-existent.
The Tripura government has denied educational
facilities to children in the camps. Only primary education under the Sarva
Siksha Abhiyan (Education for All) programme has provided limited education. There
is no scope for higher education. Effectively, over 5,000 minors have been
denied the right to education and an entire generation of the Brus have become
illiterate in the last ten years.
The MBDPF in its letters dated 26 June
2007 and 20 July 2007 addressed to the Ministry of Human Resource Development,
Government of India and Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Kanchanpur, Tripura (N)
rpointed out the lack of basic amenities. But to date the government has failed to act.
In addition, there is no security for
the camp inmates. It has come to light that about 35 Bru children (aged between
five and 15 years) went missing from the refugee camps during the last five
years. The state government of Tripura has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
IV.
The status of minorities
The enjoyment of rights by religious,
linguistic or ethnic minority communities continued to be poor.
The Chakmas are the second
largest community in Mizoram with 8.5% population against the Mizos who
constituted 77%. The socio-economic conditions of the Chakmas are poor. Although
Mizoram’s overall literacy is 88.49%, the rate of illiteracy of the Chakmas is
very high. According to Census of India 2001, the Chakmas are the most
illiterate community in Mizoram. They have a literacy rate of only 45.3 per
cent, way behind their Mizo counterparts at 95.6 per cent. The gap is huge
between males and females amongst the Chakmas: while 56.2% of the men are
literate, the literacy rate of women is only 33.6%. In case of the Mizo tribes,
male and female literacy stand at 96.8% and 94.4% respectively.
Minorities are
discriminated in employment. The state’s Recruitment Rules of several
departments require the candidates to be compulsorily educated in Mizo language
up to Middle School level. Since most Chakmas do not study Mizo as a subject in
school, they are not qualified to appointment, however talented they may be.
The Chakmas living along the
Indo-Bangladesh border were also the victims of the border fencing in Mizoram.
A total of 5,790 Chakma tribal families (35,438
persons from 49 villages or 40% of the total Chakma population in Mizoram) have
been displaced due to erection the 318 km-long international border fence.
Apart from their houses, the people have lost already wet rice cultivation
lands, horticulture gardens, gardens for growing vegetables and other cash
crops, tree plantations of high commercial values like teak etc, community/
government assets like schools, health sub-centres,
community halls, market places, places of worship, play grounds, cemetery/
grave yards, water ponds, water supply, and other government/ council office
buildings, etc.
Four companies viz. National Building
Construction Corporation Ltd. (NBCC), Border Roads Organization (BRO), Engineering
Projects India Limited (EPIL) and National Projects Construction Corporation
Ltd (NPCC) have been given contracts for construction of the fencing.
The companies did not follow the
guidelines for acquisition of the lands set by the Ministry of Home Affairs
prior to construction of the fencing for mandatory consultation with BSF
(Border Security Forces) & DM (District Magistrate). They started acquiring
land without consultation with the tribal inhabitants or the local authorities,
including the District Magistrate and the Border Security Force.
There was inordinate delay in
releasing compensation to the affected families. Even nearly one year after
completion of verification of the affected families, the NBCC failed to provide
any compensation. From 13-18 January 2008, hundreds of Chakmas including women
and children protested at Marpara village near India-Bangladesh border in
Lunglei district against the denial of compensation and halted construction
work of the NBCC. The protest was temporarily withdrawn only when the Project
Manager of NBCC, Mizoram sector, signed an agreement with them on 18 January
2008 to release compensation by 31 January 2008. However, as the NBCC failed to
keep its promise, the protests resumed.
V.
Violations of the rights of the child
There has been a steady rise of crime
against women and children in Mizoram. According to the records of the Mizoram
police, 61 incidents of rape were registered between January and August 2007 as
against 46 during the same period in 2006. 39 out of 61 rape victims were girls
below 18 years of age - 17 victims were between 10 to 14 years of age and 16
were below 10 years while six of them were between 14 to 18 years.
The 2006 Annual Report of the National
Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recorded 125 cases of violence against women
including 75 cases of rape during 2006. NCRB also recorded 35 cases of violence
against children including 35 cases of rape during the same period.
According to a study, about 84.64 per
cent children were physically abused in the state. Of these, 35 per cent
belonged to 15-18 age group. About 16.20 per cent were cases of severe forms of
sexual abuse.
On
1 April 2007, a 17-year-old girl was allegedly molested by a Central
Reserve Police Force constable when she was alone in her house at Bairabi
village in Kolasib district.
1.
Torture exposed
through RTI Act, The Assam Tribune, 18 June 2007
2.
Youth dies in
lock-up, The Shillong Times, 25 January 2007
3.
BSF men "beat up" local youths in Tlabung,
The Newslink, 31 March 2007
4.
Ensure
legitimate Bru refugees: MPC, The Newslink,
24 November 2007
5.
Bru refugees threaten hunger strike in Tripura, The Newslink, 7 February 2007
6.
Bru identification process not going smoothly, The Newslink, 19 March 2007
7.
“Brus: Repression of indigenous peoples by indigenous
peoples”, Indigenous Rights Quarterly (IRQ), October - December 2007 issue of
Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Network
8.
35
children go missing from refuguee camps; probe
ordered, The Shillong Times, 30 October 2007
9.
Rape in Mizoram
on the rise, The Telegraph, 2 October 2007
10.
Mizoram second
in child abuse cases: Survey, The Sentinel, 25 April 2007
11.
CRPF
man molests girl, mob torches bus, The Assam Tribune, 13 April 2007