India: Police Raid Indigenous Village Inside Tiger Reserve
This morning more than 250 police, forest guards and tiger force members raided a village which Indigenous people had reclaimed in a tiger reserve six weeks ago. The security forces tore down seven forest shelters where women, children and older people were living, at Karadikallu Atturu Kolli village, in Nagarhole Tiger Reserve.
'They are forcing people to destroy their own homes on their own lands. This is a grave violation of human rights as well as the rights guaranteed under the Forest Rights Act,' said a source from inside the village.
Jenu Kuruba people were violently evicted from Nagarhole 40 years ago to make way for a tiger reserve. More than 50 families returned on May 5 to live in their former village and to assert their claims in accordance with India's Forest Rights Act. It's believed to be the first time Indigenous people in India asserted their rights to return to their homes after eviction from a Protected Area.
'It is outrageous that the Jenu Kuruba are being thrown out of their home once again. The authorities must stop this persecution of the Jenu Kuruba, who are just trying to live in peace on their own land,' said Caroline Pearce, director of Survival International. 'As we've seen time and again, conservation – in this case a Tiger Reserve – is being used as a pretext to violate Indigenous rights. It is time to stop this abusive and colonial model of fortress conservation.'
The Jenu Kuruba had lived alongside and worshipped tigers for generations. They decided to return because their sacred spirits, who still dwell in the old village location, became angry at being abandoned when the community was forced from the forest in the 1980s.
This is a developing story.
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