Border row between Assam, Nagaland takes toll on forest
A border dispute between Assam and Nagaland has taken toll on a reserve forest with the police force of both states taking position behind bunkers fearing attacks from either side.
Trouble i n Tiru Hills Reserve Forest — straddling the boundary between Assam’s Jorhat district and Nagaland’s Mokokchung district — began brewing last week when locals of Nagaland cleared a patch, erected some huts and put up red flags demarcating a ‘redrawn’ border.
Locals in Assam, claiming that the land belong to their state, subsequently aided the Jorhat district administration in dismantling the huts. This heightened the tension in the area, and locals on both sides braced for a fight with locallymade weapons.
Assam and Nagaland authorities deployed their police force to prevent a flare-up but the fear of involvement of Naga militants, allegedly fuelling border aggression under an expansionist agenda, escalated the fears.
Locals said police forces made bunkers apprehending attacks from miscreants on either side.
“The security personnel have been put on high alert following the demolition of some structures in the area, but the situation is now under control,” Jorhat district superintendent of police, Amanjit Kaur, said.
Mokokchung deputy commissioner Sushil Kumar Patel said the emphasis was on maintaining peace. “Our police have taken position, but not to fight.”
Patel said the problem started when Naga villagers went to the forest for jhum or slash- andburn cultivation. “Jhum cultivators keep changing their fields, and in this case, they returned to the forest after cultivating there in 1971 and 1995,” he added.
Assam and Nagaland have been in a bitter border row that has claimed more than 200 lives since 1963. The dispute is pending in the Supreme Court.
A student’s intervention saved a seven-year-old girl who was set to be given away in marriage to a man old enough to be her father. The girl, an MBBS student of Patna medical college was taken to the wedding venue by her mother to “see the cute looking bride”.
However, after coming across a child who was about to take wedding vows, she informed an NGO which in turn called the police to stop the wedding.
The incident took place on Monday in Patna, at a venue located right in front of the Bihar legislature complex and less than a kilometre from the Patna high court campus.
The police stopped the crime just as the ‘mehndi’ ceremony, preceding the wedding vows, was over. “She is so small, she can’t spell marriage, leave alone understand its meaning”, said an official on the spot.
The child’s mother confessed that her husband had thrashed their daughter to agree to be wedded to a stranger four times her age.
“A case has been registered. The girl’s father has fled from the scene,” said DSP (Sachivalaya) Shibli Nomani, adding the case has now been referred to the women’s police station for further investigation.
Sources said the girl’s father, a daily-wage labourer from a village in Munger district of south eastern Bihar, has ten children, including six daughters.
The incident happened just a day after another child marriage was aborted in Patna City, where a 15-year-old girl showed courage to defy her father and his friend when she came to know of their plans to sell her to a man thrice her age for ` 1.5 lakh.
ASSAM AND NAGALAND HAVE BEEN IN A BORDER ROW THAT HAS CLAIMED MORE THAN 200 LIVES SINCE 1963. THE DISPUTE IS PENDING IN THE SC THE CHILD’S MOTHER CONFESSED HER HUSBAND HAD THRASHED THEIR DAUGHTER TO AGREE TO BE WEDDED TO A STRANGER