The Tripura High Court disposed of a PIL seeking the full and proper enforcement of the Resettlement Accord for the Bru community. The Division Bench of Chief Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice S. Talapatra said, “We are of the opinion that the entire issue is a political one, calling for a political solution.”
The PIL had been filed by Maharaja Pradyot Bikram Kishore Debbarma and others. The petitioners had combined several issues but the principal prayer was for the full and proper enforcement of the accord under which the Central government, the state government and the Bru community arrived at a solution for the permanent settlement of the displaced Bru people in the state on stated terms.
The Bench observed,
“The stage has not yet arisen for interception of the Court in such process. In such extremely sensitive and complex socio-economic and political questions, the Court must allow the administration to evolve a political resolution.”
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The Brus, aka Readings, are spread across Tripura, Mizoram and southern Assam. In Mizoram, they are scattered in Kolasib, Lunglei and Mamit districts. After clashes with the majority Mizos in 1995, there was a demand for the removal of the Brus, perceived to be non-indigenous, from Mizoram’s electoral rolls. This resulted in an armed movement by a Bru outfit, which killed a Mizo forest official in October 1997. Through the Resettlement Accord of the Bru Community, Bru tribals, who are originally from Mizoram, and were living as refugees in Tripura since 1997, have been allowed to permanently settle in Tripura.