On 11 Jan '22, Jammu Development Authority demolished Saif Ali's home in Paloura, citing encroachment on govt land, in the aftermath of the #RoshniAct repeal. Locals say that politics around the law has left the poor & marginalised in fear of losing land. A thread by @rayan_naqash

The Roshni Act granted ownership rights to occupants of government lands in J&K. In 2018, the state administration repealed the act. In Oct 2020, the J&K High Court declared it unconstitutional, rendering all past transactions invalid and ordered the retrieval of these lands.

The annulment of the #RoshniAct coincided with significant political changes in the erstwhile state, including the Bharatiya Janata Party’s withdrawal from the state's coalition govt in 2018 and the abrogation of J&K's special status, placing it under direct control of the union government.

On 9 Jan '23, the J&K administration issued a circular to remove encroachments on govt land. Petitioners approached the Supreme Court against the directive, but the court refused to grant a stay & directed full retrieval of all state lands, including those regularised under #RoshniAct

By Feb 2023, authorities had reportedly retrieved 34,483.25 acres of land in the Jammu division & 48,698.75 acres in the Kashmir division. The evictions disproportionately affected Muslim families and small landholders, fueling concerns of discrimination & human rights violations.

In 2020, the J&K High Court had observed that “greater efforts have been made and state land taken back from encroachers in Kashmir than in Jammu.” It ordered a CBI probe into transactions under the act, with focus on the revenue dept, which is key to the current administration’s land usage policies in J&K.

With sporadic reports of evictions and govt takeovers of Roshni lands with little hope of relief from the courts, the opposition has also accused the administration of not following due process—no notices and no hearings before demolitions/retrievals of encroached lands.

Lawyer Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed, who filed a petition against encroachments by politically connected people, said the govt was targeting Muslims because a non-discriminatory approach would mean “they'd have to demolish houses of their own vote bank, & they will not do it.”

The state administration’s argument against the Roshni Act was that it inordinately benefited “sharks” i.e. the wealthy & the powerful. On the surface, this charge is validated by the presence of politicians, govt officials & businessmen among the beneficiaries across J&K.

Ahmed claimed that Muslims' share of regularised lands under Roshni was a meagre 0.02 percent, while the administration went after the poor and "political orphans" instead of prosecuting the powerful. The administration weaponised court orders to target Muslims, he added.

While the Roshni Act was criticised for benefiting the privileged, beneficiaries' data, made public on court directions, reveals most regularised plots were farm lands measuring less than 2.71 acres, the average size of agricultural land holdings across India.

The administration, however, filed a review petition with the high court in Dec 2020, reversing its initial stance and saying that retrieving all Roshni land would adversely impact marginalised communities. It sought a reprieve for the landless and for small land-holders.

“We have seen so much for this land,” said 60-year-old Abdul Aziz, Saif Ali’s younger brother. “Do we not have any rights over it?” Aziz feared authorities would seize the remaining family land.
In J&K, people have a deep and sentimental connection to land, rooted in the widespread historical deprivation of land rights in the pre-Independence era.

The 2023 anti-encroachment drive renewed concerns of dispossession among minorties and poor. Read full report by our contributor @rayan_naqash
https://himalmag.com/politics/indian-administration-bulldozers-eviction-landless-muslims-roshni-act-jammu-and-kashmir… @Himalistan

Photos by: @rayan_naqash