Arunachal Pradesh officials warned against violating Supreme Court judgment on Chakma-Hajong issue

GUWAHATI

A rights activist and member of the core group of the National Human Rights Commission has warned officials in Arunachal Pradesh against violating the Supreme Court’s 1996 judgment, seeking the protection of the rights of all Chakma and Hajong people living in the State since the 1960s.

Senior officials and District Magistrates in Arunachal Pradesh could face contempt of court if they held a meeting with representatives of the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) on the contentious Chakma-Hajong issue, Suhas Chakma, also director of the Delhi-based Rights and Risks Analysis Group, said.

In a notification on July 3, the State’s Home Department called for a meeting with the AAPSU on Tuesday (July 8, 2025) with a three-point agenda — deportation of illegal immigrants, review and rectification of the voter list/electoral roll, and land records and encroachment by Chakma-Hajong settlers.

Also Read | Chakmas and Hajongs: The peoples without a state

The apex court, in its judgment on January 9, 1996, directed the Arunachal Pradesh government to protect the life and personal liberty of each Chakma and Hajong person residing within the State from organised groups, Mr. Chakma said. The Supreme Court also said that quit notices issued by any group, “which tantamount to threats to the life and liberty” of the communities concerned, “should be dealt with in accordance with the law”.

“Instead of complying with this direction, the State government has made AAPSU a part of the government decision-making by inviting it to the official meeting to be held on July 8. A non-state actor being invited to the official meeting for decision-making is unheard of, and non est in law,” Mr. Chakma said.

“It amounts to making a non-state actor act as the complainant, judge, jury, and executioner. This is in absolute contravention of basic tenets of the rule of law, including Article 14 and Article 21 of the Constitution of India, and most importantly, in contempt of the Supreme Court’s 1996 judgment. No court shall take such indiscretion lightly,” he said.

The rights activist also reminded the State government of the apex court’s ruling, which says that “while the application of any individual Chakma is pending consideration”, the Arunachal Pradesh government “shall not evict or remove the concerned person from his occupation on the ground that he is not a citizen of India until the competent authority has taken a decision on that behalf”.

The Arunachal Pradesh government did not process a single citizenship application, as directed by the Supreme Court, Mr. Chakma said. “Instead, the government is taking decisions to remove the Chakmas and Hajongs from their occupations, and evict them,” he added.

Displaced by a dam and religious persecution in the erstwhile East Pakistan, the primarily Buddhist Chakmas, and the Hindu Hajongs were settled in a few pockets of Arunachal Pradesh between 1964 and 1969. The final count of the refugees was 14,888.

In September 2015, the Supreme Court sought citizenship for the approximately 7,000 Chakma-Hajong people who were alive at the time.