annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Tripura
27 villages under Chawmanu block in
Dhalai district and seven villages under
Tulasikhar block in West Tripura district.
Of them, 128 people died in Chhawmanu
block alone. The tribals were forced to
consume the wild, inedible fruits and
contaminated water because of a severe
food crisis and total collapse of all
development work. 65 During the last five
years 93,000 people have been affected by
diarrhea while 72,000 more were attacked
by malaria in these places. 66
The State government also
approached the German government to
rehabilitate the tribals. The German
government is reportedly considering
providing Rs 90 crore at the request of the
State government of Tripura to rehabilitate
20,000 jhumia tribal families by adopting
various development schemes such as
social forestry, rubber plantation, bamboo
plantation, fishery and animal husbandry.
The plan will be implemented in Dhalai
and North Tripura districts in the next five
years. A high level delegation of the
German team reportedly visited Agartala
on 19 November 2004 to shape up the
project. 67
VI. Internally Displaced Persons
A large number of people have been
displaced in Tripura as a direct consequence
of insurgency related violence. Between
January 1999 to November 2003, a total of
47,782 persons - both tribals and nontribals-
were displaced. Most affected were
Bishalgarh and Khowai in West Tripura
district. While in Bishalgarh 12,800 people
240
were reportedly displaced, 9,598 people
were displaced in Khowai sub-division.
However, there were no displacement in
four subdivisions - Kailashahar,
Dharmanagar (both in North Tripura),
Sonamura in West and Sabroom in South
Tripura. 68
About 50,000 families are likely to be
displaced due to fencing of Indo-Bangla
border in Tripura. 69 The Central
government has earmarked allocation
worth Rs 140 crore to implement the Indo-
Bangla border fencing in Tripura. 70
Tripura government has no policy
towards the internally displaced persons.
About 753 Chakmas belonging to 142
families who were displaced from
Chawmanu after the attacks by armed
groups were not rehabilitated. By 2004,
the State government took no action for
their return with safety and security. 71
VII. Prisoners
About 300 prisoners were denied
access to speedy justice without trial
under the provisions of a lapsed
amendment of the Criminal Procedure
Code made by the state government in
2003. On 26 May 2003, the State
government tabled an amendment of
clause 439-A of the Criminal Procedure
Code, seeking to extend the period of
detention without trial from 60 days to
120 days and from 90 days to 180 days for
criminal offences of varying nature. The
amendment was passed in the State
Assembly on 28 May 2004. However,
since it was under concurrent jurisdiction