The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) on December 7 refuted all allegations levelled against it by the Supreme Court-appointed committee in a letter addressed to the Chairperson, Justice Gita Mittal (retd.), insisting that it has neither been pressuring families to refuse compensation nor has it asked any family to refuse accepting the bodies of their loved ones.
The Justice Mittal-headed Committee, in its 13th and 14th report submitted to the Supreme Court last week, said tribal CSOs, including but not limited to the ITLF and the Joint Philanthropic Organisations, were preventing families from accepting the compensation and also pressuring them to not accept the dead bodies of their loved ones despite attempts from the State government.
The committee had also alleged that tribal CSOs were insisting on burying their dead at a site on the border of Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts, which would “serve as a source of constant mounting tensions” and “prevent restoration of normalcy”.
