Kalpetta: For the past 10 years, KK James has had only one address. He is on an indefinite strike in front of the Wayanad Collectorate, which he took over from his late father-in-law against the unjust eviction and years of official apathy and indifference.

But one official letter delivered to “KK James & Treesa James, Samarapanthal (protest tent), In front of Collectorate, Kalpetta, Wayanad” offered a fig leaf. After years of ignoring the family's strike, the letter from the Wayanad district collector inviting them for a meeting to fix a price for the 12 acres of janmam (a form of hereditary property right) patta land that the forest department took over without issuing even a notification. James' father-in-law, Kanjirathinal George, owned this land back in 1977.

“Though we are living on the streets, we are relieved now,” he said, holding up the letter. The price of the land is the price of the endless torture, harassment and forced poverty that the family suffered.

“I collected all the documentary evidence and decided to launch my own agitation after the death of my father-in-law George,” says James. To link the missing dots in the case, James collected dozens of documents from 1922 to the latest to prove George's innocence.

“You can fix the price of the land, but who can fix the price for our life? My wife was just eight when the forest department took over the land from them 47 years ago,” he said. “Who will pay for her childhood, education, youth and life as a homeless person,” James asked. As he spoke, Treesa looked on with tears rolling down her eyes.

Thrown out of his land, George died a lonely death in an impoverished home. His wife Elikkutti, who had lost her mental balance after repeated persecution, attacks and humiliation by the forest department, died on the streets; his other daughter, Jolly, is still a spinster, and his son, Thomas, ran away, unable to withstand the persecution of the forest department.

The family wants 12 acres to be freed of all legal wrangle before the government grants them compensation or another land. Their demand stems from an earlier bitter experience. Though the state government agreed to return the land and issued an order, the patta number in the records was different and landed in a prolonged legal battle. James blames the forest department for this. “They misguided the forest tribunal and the High Court and misrepresented facts at the assembly... First, we need justice, then can you fix the compensation for the shame, harassment, state persecution and the denial of justice we faced all these years,” he said.

“Forty-seven years after the unjust eviction and a decade-long sit-in in front of the Collectorate, now the state has realised that the illegal takeover was injustice meted to our family,” he said, showing a maze of documents.

One such paper shows shocking details of treachery – a government pleader who appeared before the High Court for the forest department also represented George in a petition filed without his knowledge. “It was a fake appeal which we never knew,” said James. “Even before my father-in-law received the verdict against him, there was an appeal against that verdict in the High Court,” he said. “The judicial system is too fragile that anybody can do anything,” he lamented.

This prolonged battle for justice began in 1967 when George and his brother Jose bought 12 acres of Janmam patta land in the Kanjirangad village of Wayanad's Thondarnad.

In 1977, the forest department attempted to evict the farmers, claiming the department had notified the land under the Kerala Private Forest Vesting and Assignment Act. As the move was illegal, the forest tribunal, in a verdict in 1978, reinstated the farmer's right over the land. But later, in 1985, forest officials fabricated evidence and won the case, alleged James.

The State Human Rights Commission which suo motto filed a case on the issue in an order (31/07/2023) to Wayanad district administration and the state government had recommended a legal remedy initiated by the government by cancelling the verdict of the forest tribunal (OA 356/76) of 1985.

In 2009, T Sreesukan IPS, the SP of VACB, submitted a report castigating the forest department for furnishing a false report to the government about the forest area notified. The report also recommended departmental action against forest officials.

The state government then constituted a three-member ‘High Power Committee’. After a seven-year gap, the panel assigned then-Mananthavadi sub-collector Seeram Sambasiva Rao to submit a detailed report.

In the report, Rao said the farmer has “uncontested purchase certificates and that “forest officials misguided the entire government and honourable High Court”.
Now, James and their family hope the latest government initiative will finally end their suffering.