Jharkhand police on Monday arrested 17 persons for allegedly recruiting people for the “Kolhan Government Estate” to establish self-rule under the British-era Wilkinson rule, and for attacking the Chaibasa police station on Sunday.
The police resorted to a lathi charge and tear gassed a mob armed with bows and swords that pelted stones, protesting police action that, on Sunday, sought to stop them from recruiting people for the Kolhan Estate. Kolhan means home of the coal people.
At least 10 policemen and one civilian were injured in incident; police constable Brijmohan Mishra was hit in the stomach by an arrow. Those arrested have been booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including sedition, Chaibasa’s deputy superintendent of police Dilip Khalko said.
“In total, 17 persons have been arrested till now. Eight among them, including one of the main conspirators of the recruitment drive, Ajay Padeya, were arrested from Ladrubasa village, where the recruitment was being done, while another nine persons have been arrested for being involved in arson and violence near the police station,” said Khalko.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that Padeya, a deserter from Central Reserve Police Force’s Cobra Battalion posted in Latehar, and Anand Chatar, who recently came out of jail, have emerged as the main conspirators in the recruitment drive in the name of Kolhan Goverment Estate under the Wilkinson Rule of 1837, Khalko said.
{{/usCountry}}Preliminary investigations have revealed that Padeya, a deserter from Central Reserve Police Force’s Cobra Battalion posted in Latehar, and Anand Chatar, who recently came out of jail, have emerged as the main conspirators in the recruitment drive in the name of Kolhan Goverment Estate under the Wilkinson Rule of 1837, Khalko said.
{{/usCountry}}The Kol rebellion took place in the area in 1832 against high rent and usurpation of land by outsiders. The then British agent, Thomas Wilkinson, decided to declare the Kolhan region as “Kolhan Separate Estate” with headquarters in Chaibasa, and implemented the Wilkinson Rule in 1837.
Under the arrangement, a quasi-police forum of Mankis at the panchayat level and quasi-judicial and revenue collection forum of Mundas at the village level were created. Until 1947, Mankis looked after a group of villages, both in terms of civil, petty criminal cases and land settlement matters, and Mundas collected tax as decided by local villagers in consultation with the British representative.
According to proponents of the separate Kolhan Estatate, since no explicit legislation in Parliament has scrapped, amended or modified the Wilkinson Rule, the Manki-Munda system is still in place in the Kolhan region, comprising West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts, bordering Odisha and West Bengal in southern Jharkhand.
While the incident turned violent on Saturday following the police crackdown at the ongoing recruitment camp in Ladrubasa village under town police station limits, such hiring has reportedly been going on in the area for the past few months.
Chatar and Padey were leading this drive, inviting applications and issuing appointment letters for policemen and teachers.
The move for a Kolhan Estate revived in 2017, when Ramo Birua, a 83-year-old resident of Bhagabila village in Chaibasa, had issued a call to hoist the flag for a separate Kolhan Estate.
A former block development officer, Birua retired as additional district magistrate in undivided Bihar. He began issuing certificates like for caste, income and age, under the letterhead of Kolhan Estate Government. Birua claimed that it was a separate estate and only he could be appointed its Khewatdar No. 1 (main revenue collector).
Birua was booked for sedition and arrested by police and subsequently died in jail. Chatar, who is reportedly the brain behind the fresh recruitment drive for Kolhan Estate, was also booked along with Birua. He recently came out of prison and has reportedly been promoting himself as the Khewatdar No. 1, as appointed by Birua in jail before he died.
Though the police cracked down on Saturday, questions are being raised at the lax approach of the district civil and police administration for allowing the group to function.
The Hindustan Times has reviewed pictures of applications and appointment letters dated November 2021. Applicants were reportedly being asked to submit ₹50 as application fee and ₹500 against the appointment letters, with a promise that they could join six months later.
A picture of Chaibasa Sadar circle officer Gopi Oraon allegedly handing over appointment letters at recruitment camp in the village is also doing the rounds. Oraon clarified that he visited the village to conduct an inquiry and was not part of any recruitment drive.
“I don’t know what happened on Sunday as I am on leave. On Friday, I had gone to the village on instruction from Sadar SDO (subdivisional officer) to conduct an inquiry about an alleged recruitment drive. When I went there, I could not meet the organisers. However, the applicants present there told me that they were applying for recruitment for Kolhan police and school teachers. They said they have been promised that the salary would be paid to them from the Kolhan Fund of the administration. Some of them also submitted few letters to me. Someone might have clicked a picture of that,” said Oroan.
Police received no prior official complaint against the recruitment drive, Khalko said.
Rights activists demanded action against people taking advantage of the traditional laws by misinterpreting them, and said the government’s failure to implement Panchayat Extension of Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act is also adding to the confusion.
“The (PESA) Act was made in the mid 1990s but no government has dared to implement it, which would promote the customary local governance system at the panchayat level,” said Siraj Dutta of Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, a civil rights organisation. “Many a time, vested groups take advantage in misinterpreting and fooling innocent tribals, who later end up being a harassed by the administration.”