SRINAGAR: The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Budgam, has informed a district court that the police have no authority to determine or adjudicate community forest or grazing rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), clarifying that their role is limited to maintaining law and order.
The clarification came in a written report submitted before the Court of the Special Mobile Magistrate, Budgam, in connection with a civil suit filed by residents of Brenwar village over their traditional grazing rights in the Cheskani-Nad meadow in the Pir Panjal Forest Division.
According to the report, filed in compliance with court directions, the determination and verification of community forest rights and grazing claims fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of the competent authorities constituted under the Forest Rights Act.
The SSP’s report further states that the police have “never prevented the plaintiffs from exercising any lawful right” and have “never interfered with the grazing activities of the plaintiffs’ livestock at Cheskani-Nad meadow.”
The case was filed after a group of residents from Brenwar alleged that police were preventing them from accessing the pasture for grazing livestock at the behest of some local residents. The police response before the court rejects these allegations and maintains that the force has acted only within its mandate of preserving law and order.
The dispute centres on the recognition of traditional grazing rights claimed by local residents under the Community Forest Rights provisions of the Forest Rights Act.
Mohammad Aslam Jahara, one of the petitioners in the case, welcomed the police report.
“The report submitted by the SSP is self-explanatory and has given us a sigh of relief. We are now hopeful of getting justice from the court in due course of time,” he said.
Counsel for the petitioners, Advocate Shakir Mushtaq Parray, said the compliance report was a significant development.
“The report clearly establishes that the police have neither the jurisdiction nor the authority to adjudicate community forest and grazing rights claimed by the villagers. The plaintiffs remain committed to pursuing the matter through lawful means for protection and recognition of the traditional rights of the local community. The matter remains pending before the court, where the claims of the parties will be decided in accordance with law,” he said.
The Cheskani-Nad meadow, located in the Pir Panjal mountains of Budgam district near the border with Poonch, has been the subject of a prolonged dispute. Some influential residents of Brenwar have claimed ownership over nearly 10,000 kanals of pastureland and are alleged to have collected grazing charges from nomadic Bakerwal herders from the Rajouri and Poonch districts.
The matter had earlier reached the courts, which directed the government to determine the claims in accordance with the Forest Rights Act through a Halqa Majlis (Gram Sabha). However, according to the petitioners, the Gram Sabha has not been convened for the past two years.
Another group of Brenwar residents, also belonging to the Gujjar community, has alleged that they were being prevented from accessing the pasture during the annual grazing season.
“To address this issue, we filed a case in the District Court Budgam last month. With the posting of the new SSP Budgam and the court hearing the matter regularly, it appears the issue may now be decided on its merits,” said petitioner Manzoor Ahmad Jahara.
The civil suit remains pending before the District Court, which is expected to examine the competing claims under the provisions of the Forest Rights Act.v
