Assam: More than 1,100 Muslim families evicted from Lutumari forests in two-day demolition drive

The Assam administration carried out a two-day demolition and eviction drive in the Lutumari Longjap Reserve Forest. Officials said the homes stood on forest land that had been encroached upon. Residents disputed that description and said their families had lived there for decades. The event matters because it involved hundreds of households and raised questions about long-standing settlement claims.

On Sunday, officials demolished the homes of more than 600 Muslim families in Lutumari, in Nagaon district. The affected residents said they occupied more than 300 hectares. They also said that over 10 mosques, including some more than 50 years old, were demolished. On Saturday, evictions took place in Nagaon, Golaghat and Hojai.

The drive was conducted under heavy security. Residents said they had challenged the eviction in the Gauhati High Court but received no relief. The case also drew opposition from the All India Union of Forest Working People, which said the villages were linked to the taungya system rather than being ordinary encroachments.

The reported total across Assam was more than 1,100 Muslim families. This figure combines the second day’s action in Lutumari with evictions carried out on the first day in three districts. The scale is significant because the operation affected many households at once, most of them identified in the report as Bengali Muslims.

On Saturday, officials reported 547 evicted families: 336 in Nagaon, 59 in Golaghat and 152 in Hojai. On Sunday, more than 600 families in Lutumari Longjap Reserve Forest, also in Nagaon district, lost their homes. Together, those figures exceed 1,100 families, although the report does not give a more precise combined total.

The Lutumari families had lived on more than 300 hectares for decades. They said the government had settled their forefathers there, while the administration described the land as forest encroachment. The evictions therefore involved both a large displacement and a dispute over how the settlements should be classified.

A reserve forest is a legally protected forest area managed for conservation and controlled use. Governments restrict housing, cultivation and other activities there to prevent land clearing, protect trees and wildlife, and maintain the forest’s intended use. These rules can also limit who may settle or farm inside the boundary. The article does not explain Assam’s exact legal definition, so this general explanation uses established knowledge.

In Lutumari, officials said the families were encroaching on forest land. Residents gave a different account. They said more than 300 landless families had been settled there by the government in 1974, receiving four bighas each. They also said many residents worked as labourers for the Forest Department.

The conflict shows why reserve-forest status matters in practice. The administration treated the homes as unauthorised occupation, while residents connected their presence to government settlement and forest employment. The resulting demolition drive affected more than 600 Lutumari families and also destroyed mosques, including some more than 50 years old.

Residents rejected the label of ordinary encroachers because they said their settlement had been authorised by the government. Their account was that their forefathers were landless and that officials placed them in Lutumari in 1974. This matters because a government settlement claim is fundamentally different from an unapproved occupation, even though the administration treated the land as forest encroachment.

Abdul Noor said 300 landless families were given four bighas each. He said the families were originally from nearby Juria town and had lived in Lutumari for decades. He also explained that many residents had worked as labourers in the Forest Department, which was why people were brought there. The settlement covered more than 300 hectares.

Residents also tried to defend their status through the courts. Noor said they challenged the eviction in the Gauhati High Court, but the court gave them no relief. The demolitions nevertheless proceeded, affecting more than 600 families and destroying more than 10 mosques, according to residents.

Taungya was a colonial-era forest-management system in which forest communities grew food crops alongside commercially valuable trees. In return, they worked with the Forest Department. The British introduced the system in the mid-19th century, and it was later used in parts of Assam. Its importance here is that it created a historical connection between forest residents, cultivation and official forest work.

The All India Union of Forest Working People said residents of four Lutumari villages had been settled under this system. The villages were Kandarpa Longjap, Padumoni, Hatijur and No. 9 Kheroni. Residents also said many people were brought to the area because they worked as Forest Department labourers. They cultivated land while living within the reserve forest.

That history became central to the dispute over eviction. The organisation urged the Assam government to stop the planned removals and argued that residents should not be treated as ordinary encroachers. Despite that appeal, the administration demolished homes in Lutumari, where more than 600 families were affected on Sunday.

The Assam government was responsible for the eviction drive, carried out through the administration and forest authorities. A senior forest official said the Lutumari homes stood on encroached forest land. Government officials also provided the figures for Saturday’s evictions. The Forest Department was central not only to the enforcement context but also to residents’ history, since many said they had worked there as labourers.

The Gauhati High Court was involved because residents challenged the eviction. Abdul Noor said the court did not give them any relief. The All India Union of Forest Working People separately urged the government to halt the planned action, arguing that four villages had been settled under the taungya system. Neither the court challenge nor the organisation’s appeal stopped the demolitions.

Security forces supported the operation on the ground. The Saturday evictions in Nagaon, Golaghat and Hojai took place amid heavy security, and the Lutumari action continued on Sunday. More than 1,100 families were evicted across the two days, according to the reported figures.

The immediate consequence was the destruction of homes belonging to hundreds of families. More than 600 Muslim families in Lutumari were affected on Sunday, after 547 families were evicted elsewhere on Saturday. Losing homes also disrupted established communities that residents said had lived on the land for decades. The operation therefore changed daily life immediately, not just the legal status of the land.

Residents said more than 10 mosques were demolished, including some that were over 50 years old. They also described work connected to the forest, saying many residents had served as Forest Department labourers. The evictions threatened that connection to local livelihoods and cultivation. The article does not report where the families went afterward or whether compensation was provided.

The legal position remained contested. Residents said they had challenged the eviction in the Gauhati High Court but received no relief. The taungya claim and the government-settlement account continued to challenge the administration’s encroachment label. The broader trend was also substantial: about 19,000 families, mostly Muslim, had been evicted from government land during the BJP’s last ten years in Assam.