On 23 September 2021 police opened fire on residents resisting an eviction drive at Dhalpur in Sipajhar, Darrang district, Assam. Two people were killed, one of them a 12-year-old boy, and more than 20, including police personnel, were injured. A video showing a district administration photographer stamping on a man who had been shot caused national outrage. A one-man judicial commission submitted its report in October 2024; the government has not published it.
Key takeaways
- Assam cleared Dhalpur villages in Sipajhar, Darrang, on 20 and 23 September 2021 for the Gorukhuti agriculture project.
- Police fire on 23 September killed Moinul Haque and a 12-year-old boy. Police and the Chief Minister said it was self-defence against an armed crowd; families said police fired without reason.
- A district administration photographer filmed stamping on Haque was arrested that night.
- A judicial commission's 319-page report, submitted in October 2024, has not been published.
- The Gauhati High Court left the farm project intact in 2023, and the same families were evicted again in 2024.
Background: the Gorukhuti project
Dhalpur lies on a char, a sandbar area of the Brahmaputra, in the Sipajhar revenue circle about 70 km from Guwahati Deccan Herald. Most residents were Bengali-origin Muslims Scroll.
On 7 June 2021, weeks after taking office, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited Gorukhuti and committed to clearing 77,420 bighas of government land of encroachers for organic farming by indigenous unemployed youth. The government set up "Project Gorukhuti" with Sootea MLA Padma Hazarika as chairman and sanctioned Rs 9.60 crore Sentinel Assam. The government said about 5,000 youths from "indigenous" communities would be employed Deccan Herald.
The first eviction, 20 September
On Monday 20 September more than 1,200 police, paramilitary and SDRF personnel, led by the Darrang Superintendent of Police Sushanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister's brother, supported the district administration in clearing Dhalpur 1 and 3 from 7 am to 6 pm Sentinel Assam. About 800 families were evicted without resistance that day.
Figures for the land cleared differ. The Chief Minister said 4,500 bighas; some reports, including the Sentinel, said 8,000 bighas Scroll. Residents said they had bought the land years earlier Al Jazeera.
The protest and firing, 23 September
According to local accounts, the administration served an eviction notice on residents late on 22 September and protests began the next morning. Residents said officials promised rehabilitation before eviction, but once activists left, police opened fire Scroll.
Claim · Police A police officer at the scene said: "We used tear gas shells and fired in the air to disperse the crowd but many of them did not relent and attacked the policemen with sticks and sharp weapons. Finally, we had to open fire to control the situation" Deccan Herald.
Documented A widely shared video shows police firing at a man running towards them with a stick. After he falls, about a dozen policemen beat him with batons. A photographer with a camera round his neck then stamps on, punches and kicks him, and returns seconds later to do it again Al Jazeera. Police identified the man as Moinul Haque.
Early reports misidentified one of the dead; later reports named Moinul Haque and a 12-year-old boy Scroll. Haque's age was reported as 28 (Madhyamam), 30 (NDTV, cited by Scroll) and 33 (Scroll) Madhyamam Scroll. The boy's family said he was returning from the post office after collecting his Aadhaar card PTI via EastMojo.
Official counts of injured police ranged from nine to 12 EastMojo The Quint. Over 20 people in all were injured IANS.
Across the two days, 1,200 to 1,400 houses were razed in Dhalpur 1, 2 and 3, leaving over 7,000 people homeless, according to PTI PTI via Morung Express. Government estimates later put it at 1,418 houses, 48 shops and three mosques Scroll.
Timeline
Firing
Two killed; photographer arrested that night; government orders judicial inquiry EastMojo.
Darrang bandh
12-hour bandh called by minority organisations Scroll.
Families file complaints
Murder FIRs registered against police and district officials Scroll.
Second eviction
Homes of 397 families demolished Scroll.
Inquiry report submitted
319 pages, 16 recommendations; not published Deccan Herald.
Both accounts
Residents' and families' account
Haque's cousin said in his complaint that Haque was moving his belongings when police "started firing at the crowd" without reason and shot him "instead of apprehending" him. The boy's brother said a police bullet hit him as he walked to the post office Scroll. Haque's father told NDTV: "They have killed my son. Are we Bangladeshis? Then send us away!" Scroll.
Police and government account
The SP said police acted in "self-defence" Al Jazeera. A police FIR of 24 September said the two were shot after a large crowd turned violent and attacked officers despite pleas Scroll. Sarma said "people attacked the police with machetes, spears and other things" Scroll, that about 10,000 people surrounded the police The Quint. He said the media should not "demean the state government with one video" Scroll.
Claim · Chief Minister On 25 September Sarma said intelligence reports showed six people, including a college lecturer, had collected Rs 28 lakh from families over three months by promising to stop the eviction, and "when they could not prevent the eviction drive, they mobilised those people and created mayhem". He said Popular Front of India (PFI) members had visited the site the day before on the pretext of bringing food. PFI's state president Abu Shama Ahmed denied this, saying it had no cadres in the area PTI via EastMojo. No evidence No charge sheet or court finding on the Rs 28 lakh claim was found in the reporting reviewed.
Special DGP GP Singh defended the firing but said of the photographer: "having seen the video, we will take action against him... no questions asked" Scroll.
The bandh and political reaction
The All Minority Organisations Coordination Committee, including AAMSU and Jamiat-e-Ulema, called a 12-hour Darrang bandh on 24 September Scroll (PTI). The bandh was total in Dalgaon, Kharupetia and other minority-dominated areas but had no impact in Mangaldai EastMojo.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote that "Assam is on state-sponsored fire" Al Jazeera. The Assam Congress asked the Governor to halt the eviction and suspend the Darrang Deputy Commissioner and SP Scroll.
The judicial inquiry
The government appointed Justice (retd) BD Agarwal (also spelled Agarwalla) under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, with three months to report. Its terms included whether police used force only after "exhausting all available non-lethal options", whether anyone incited the violence, and the photographer's conduct Sentinel Assam.
The report was submitted to the Chief Minister on 21 October 2024. It runs to 319 pages with 16 recommendations. Its contents were not released. Claim · Unnamed sources Sources told PTI the report "spoke about excess use of police force, especially the application of arms", found notices were served only a day or two in advance, and suggested re-examining the eviction rules Deccan Herald (PTI).
Court cases and FIRs
The Gauhati High Court registered a suo motu PIL and heard it with a PIL by Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia. On 7 October 2021 Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia's bench said: "This is a big tragedy, very unfortunate. Those who are guilty, if at all, must be punished" IANS.
Government's position In a November 2021 affidavit the state said the occupants were encroachers "liable to be evicted at any time" under the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886, and that compensation under land acquisition law was "irrelevant". It earmarked about 1,000 bighas for relocation, subject to verification of landless status and citizenship. PTI via Morung Express.
On 24 January 2023 the court disposed of Saikia's PIL, finding no ground to interfere with the Cabinet decision on the farm project. For compensation, it pointed to the one-man inquiry commission. A later evictees' PIL seeking compensation was closed on the same terms India Legal.
On 6 and 7 October 2021 police registered murder FIRs against policemen and district officials on the families' complaints. By then three people had been arrested for allegedly instigating violence, and the Assam Human Rights Commission had found a prima facie case of rights violation Scroll. The CID took over the photographer's case EastMojo. No trial outcome in any of these cases was found in the reporting reviewed.
The farm project and later evictions
In March 2023 the Agriculture Minister told the Assembly the project had earned Rs 1.51 crore against Rs 16.1 crore allotted over two years; 300 Gir cows from Gujarat were returned as "inferior quality" PTI via EastMojo. In July 2025 the Congress sought a CBI inquiry into alleged irregularities NE Now.
On 20 May 2024 about 400 families displaced in 2021 were evicted again from makeshift homes nearby. Officials said 620 families had been told to move to Dalgaon, about 40 km away, and called it a "periodic" drive Scroll.
Government's position In August 2025 Sarma said 1.39 lakh bighas had been cleared statewide and that "eviction drives will continue" Deccan Herald. He said land was occupied by people of a "particular religion" as part of a "demographic invasion"; opposition parties accused the government of polarisation Deccan Herald.
Outcome
- Deaths: Two, including a 12-year-old boy.
- Injuries: Over 20, including police.
- Displacement: 1,200 to 1,418 houses demolished; over 7,000 homeless per PTI.
- Arrests: Photographer Bijoy Sankar Bania; three people for alleged instigation.
- FIRs: Murder cases against police and officials on families' complaints.
- Inquiry: Report submitted October 2024, not published.
- Courts: PILs disposed of in 2023; Cabinet decision left intact.
What is still pending
The Agarwal commission report has not been made public, and no action taken report was found. No reported outcome exists for the murder FIRs or the case against the photographer.
Questions people ask
What happened in Darrang on 23 September 2021?
Police fired on residents of Dhalpur, Sipajhar, who were protesting an eviction drive. Two people were killed, including a 12-year-old boy, and more than 20 were injured.
Why was Dhalpur evicted?
The government said the land was encroached and needed for the Gorukhuti agriculture project. Residents said they had bought it years earlier.
What did the judicial inquiry find?
The report was submitted in October 2024 but not published. Unnamed sources told PTI it criticised excess use of force and short eviction notices.
Did the High Court stop the eviction?
No. It called the firing "a big tragedy" in 2021 but in January 2023 declined to interfere with the Cabinet decision.
Sources
- Scroll: Two killed in police firing during eviction drive, state orders inquiry, 23 Sep 2021
- Scroll: 12-hour bandh observed in Darrang district, 24 Sep 2021
- Deccan Herald: Two killed in police firing during eviction drive in Assam, 23 Sep 2021
- EastMojo: Police arrest photographer in video, 23 Sep 2021
- Al Jazeera: Indian photographer in video stomps on man shot by Assam police, 24 Sep 2021
- EastMojo: Protests in Darrang day after Sipajhar violence, 24 Sep 2021
- Sentinel Assam: Massive eviction drive in Darrang, 8,000 bighas cleared, 21 Sep 2021
- PTI via EastMojo: Assam claims PFI behind police-peasant conflict, 25 Sep 2021
- Madhyamam: Assam CM claims PFI behind conflict in Darrang, Sep 2021
- The Quint: CM points at PFI role, 25 Sep 2021
- Deccan Herald: Drive to evict illegal settlers to continue, 25 Sep 2021
- Sentinel Assam: Justice BD Agarwalla entrusted to inquire, Oct 2021
- IANS via Morung Express: Gauhati HC terms eviction violence a big tragedy, 7 Oct 2021
- Scroll: Police and district officials booked for murder, Oct 2021
- PTI via Morung Express: Ready to relocate evicted families if citizenship proved, 4 Nov 2021
- India Legal: Gauhati High Court closes PIL against Darrang evictions, 6 Feb 2023
- PTI via EastMojo: Assam govt earns Rs 1.51 crore from agri project, 16 Mar 2023
- Scroll: Assam government resumes eviction drive in Dhalpur, 21 May 2024
- Deccan Herald: Inquiry commission on Gorukhuti eviction submits report, 21 Oct 2024
- NE Now: Congress alleges irregularities in Gorukhuti project, 2 Jul 2025
- Deccan Herald: Over 4,000 structures evicted within five days, 3 Aug 2025
- Deccan Herald: Sarma says eviction drives will continue, 9 Aug 2025