Listen to this article:

Padaliya, Gujarat: In March, Marudiben Bhagora and dozens of others travelled 50 kms away to Palanpur from her village Padaliya. Bhagora and others were going to a meet to discuss and understand the happenings of December 2025 – when hundreds of them ran out of their homes to claim their rights, but also to save their lives from police bullets.

On December 13, 2025, a routine patrol by Gujarat Police and forest officers in Padaliya village of Gujarat’s Banaskantha district’s Danta Taluka, transformed into one of the most intense clashes between tribal people and government staff in recent years. Vehicles were burnt, stones pelted, policemen bled and injured tribals ran for their lives, lands and homes.

In what was labelled as a ‘plantation drive’ by Gujarat Police and forest officers, several await bail for standing up to bulldozers and defending their rights under the Forest Rights Act.

Padaliya’s tribals run away as police begin pelting tear gas bombs and lathi charge on December 13, 2025. Photo: By arrangement

Homeless and helpless

“We haven’t left our homes empty since December. We were pushed out of our villages and homes, we can’t let them oust us from our ancestral lands” says Shakariben Parmar, a local of Padaliya.

Parmar speaks while looking at her three children, “There were officers everywhere, as far as we could see, they forcefully entered the village with equipment and JCBs [bulldozers]. Everyone in our village could sense that something wrong was going to happen.”

Upon the arrival of a large troop of officers, surprised and anxious villagers collected at the site and objected to the plantation work, explaining to the officers that the process of settlement of forest rights was still pending and that the Gram Sabha had already identified claimants under the Forest Rights Act, including the holder of the land in question. 

As villagers began confronting the officials, Parmar recalls that the police used lathis and teargas bombs to scatter the villagers. As shrieks echoed and people ran, Shankerbhai, a local of the neighbouring Kanpura village, said that all of them reached Padaliya as fast as they could. People from other neighbouring villages such as Chikanvas and Dabheli also swiftly arrived in Padaliya upon hearing about the incident. “Then they began beating and attacking the elders of our village, soon everyone was angry,” he said. 

Pushpaben, Shakariben’s neighbour, was infuriated by the police action. “If they are right and we are illegal, why was there no prior declaration about this eviction they carried out in the name of plantation. Why weren’t we handed prior notices or time periods to vacate if we are wrong? This is thievery, it is our land,” she said.

At the core of this conflict sits a 45-hectare plot claimed by Parmar, the area which falls under the Balaram-Ambaji Wildlife Sanctuary. Believed to be occupied by Parmar’s family from the Dungri Garasiya tribe since the last three or four generations, a part of the land was cleared by officials in December 2025, when they demolished her hut. 

After the March incident, an FIR was registered naming 26 persons and approximately 500 “unknown persons” in connection with offences including unlawful assembly, rioting, obstruction of public servants and damage to public property. 

Meanwhile, a written complaint submitted by Parmar – alleging illegal eviction, destruction of her dwelling and physical assault by officials – has not........

© The Wire