UP’s killing fields and the Shravasti model

A study of crime cases was conducted by the Shravasti district administration in 2014 and it was found that 90% percent of the cases in the district were associated with land disputes.

The killing of 10 people over a land dispute in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district on Wednesday has put the focus back on the ‘Shravasti model’ adopted by the state police in 2015 for speedy disposal of land disputes and check related crimes in the process.

Policemen standing guard at Umbha village in Sonbhadra district, July 18, 2019, after 10 people were killed in a land dispute the previous day.(HT Photo)

A study of crime cases was conducted by the Shravasti district administration in 2014 and it was found that 90% percent of the cases in the district were associated with land disputes, including petty ones like boundary of an agriculture land. The study revealed that many disputes were continuing between families from one generation to another, said a state government official who was earlier posted in Shravasti.

When the officers delved further, they felt most of these disputes could be solved by holding meeting between the two parties and all they needed was an arbitrator who could offer an amicable solution.

A plan for the disposal of land disputes was prepared in a meeting. Along with police and district administration staff, employees of the Revenue and Panchayat departments were also roped in to shortlist land disputes in the district. Cases pending in the court or the ones in which a crime case had been registered were discarded, said the official.

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Lekhpals, police constables and panchayat staff were directed to prepare a data of land disputes in their respective area. A list of 1186 cases was prepared in 536 villages. In the first phase, only those villages were selected in which more than five cases of disputes were reported. Twelve teams, including personnel of police and revenue department, were constituted and the team members were directed to meet the villagers and give prior information about their visit. At the meeting, the issue was discussed and a solution offered by the officers.

By the end of 2014, the team was successful in disposing of 1100 such disputes in 434 villages, thus helping in bringing down associated cases of the crime.

According to the state crime bureau data, out of the 6315 cases of homicide reported in the state in 2013, property dispute was the motive in 151 cases (2.39%).

Enthused by this success, the state police in 2015 directed all the 75 districts to adopt the model to resolve land disputes.

But needless to say that in many districts it was adopted and forgotten at the same time.

As per national crime record bureau data, out of 2,253 cases of homicide reported in the state in 2016, property dispute was the motive in 424 cases.

Talking to HT, Shravasti DM Om Prakash Arya said the district administration continued to follow the model to dispose of cases of land dispute amicably. A coordinated effort was being made by all the departments to settle disputes between two groups or families, he said.

A senior police officer, who had then played a pivotal role in the launch of the Shravasti model, said land dispute between the gram pradhan and the villagers in Sonbhadra’s Umbha village was festering for long but no effort was made by the local administration and the police to settle it. The gram pradhan tried to till the land forcibly that was opposed by the villagers resulting in the death of 10 people, something that could have been avoided if the ‘Shravasti model’ had been followed, he said.