Purty, who has been involved in several patthalgadi cases, held the public meeting to announce a “gram sabha bank” on Sunday in his native village Uduburu. (Representational)
Police on Monday registered an FIR against Yusuf Purty, self-styled leader of “patthalgadi”, and his associates under the charge of sedition for announcing the setting up of a separate bank in the presence of villagers in Murhu police station area of Jharkhand’s Khunti district. Purty, who has been involved in several patthalgadi cases, held the public meeting to announce a “gram sabha bank” on Sunday in his native village Uduburu.
Patthalgadi is a traditional practice among tribals in which they put up stone slabs with names of their ancestors. But of late, it has taken the form of a protest, with patthalgadi supporters urging people not to allow government officials and police to enter their areas. They have also said that they intend to run their own schools and set up an “adivasi board”. They have argued that Constitution has given them the right to maintain their own systems in Scheduled Areas. The administration, however, has alleged that the patthalgadi supporters are backed by people involved in illegal cultivation of opium. Also, some of the self-styled leaders, including Purty, are believed to be nursing political ambitions.
According to the police, Purty, his associate Balram Samad and some others, have been booked under charges of sedition and other IPC sections. “Purty and his associates have been booked for sedition, obstruction to government servant in discharge of duty, misleading people and other such charges. Separately, he has been booked under Banking Regulation Act for announcing a bank out of the system,” said Khunti SP Ashwani Kumar Sinha. Sinha added that the process to arrest Purty, who is wanted in half-a-dozen cases related to patthalgadi, had been initiated.
On Sunday, a large crowd had gathered at Uduburu, where Purty announced a “Gram Sabha bank” asserting that it would now function as the real bank, while all other government banks would become meaningless. He also claimed that the money for the bank would come from the funds allocated by the government under Tribal Sub-Plans, which belonged to tribals alone.
While the administration and police had information about the programme, they did not directly intervene. Officials said the matter was being dealt sensitively.