On December 23, 2025, two persons were killed and several were injured, including 48 Police personnel, as fresh violence erupted in Assam’s West Karbi Anglong District, marking a serious escalation in a long-standing dispute over land rights, ethnic identity, and governance in the Sixth Schedule hill areas of the state. The deceased were identified as Suresh Dey (25), a specially abled youth whose body was recovered from a building set ablaze during the unrest, and Athik Timung, a member of the Karbi community who died during the clashes. The violence, concentrated primarily in Kheroni and surrounding areas, prompted the Assam Government to suspend mobile internet services in both Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong districts, and to impose prohibitory orders to contain further deterioration of law and order.
The immediate trigger for the unrest was a prolonged protest demanding the eviction of alleged encroachers from the Village Grazing Reserve (VGR) and Professional Grazing Reserve (PGR) lands-categories of land traditionally protected to safeguard tribal livelihoods and customary land use. These demands have been raised for several years by Karbi tribal organisations, reflecting deeper anxieties over demographic changes, land alienation, and the perceived weakening of constitutional protections under the Sixth Schedule. In early December, the agitation took the form of a hunger strike by nine protesters at Phelangpi in West Karbi Anglong. Tensions intensified after the hunger strikers were taken by the Police to Guwahati for medical treatment on December 22, 2025, an action that was widely misinterpreted as arrests, fuelling rumours and triggering large-scale mobilisation.
What initially appeared to be a controlled protest rapidly descended into violent confrontation. Clashes between agitating groups and security forces involved stone-pelting, the use of traditional weapons such as arrows, and widespread arson. Several shops, motorcycles, and public properties were torched, particularly in the Kheroni Market, with many of the affected establishments reportedly belonging to non-tribal residents, including Bengalis, Biharis, and Nepalis. The violence also assumed a symbolic dimension when the ancestral residence of the Chief Executive Member of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) was set on fire, signalling a breakdown of trust between the protestors and local institutions of governance.
Security forces (SFs) bore the brunt of the violence, with at least 48 police personnel injured, including senior IPS officers and the Director General of Police Harmeet Singh and other officers present were attacked with bows and arrows, who were present at the site to oversee operations and engage directly with protestors. Despite assurances from agitators that violence would be avoided, the situation spiralled out of control, forcing the police to resort to lathi-charge and the use of tear gas to disperse crowds that had gathered in defiance of prohibitory orders. The death of Suresh Dey, trapped inside a burning structure, underscored the indiscriminate nature of the violence, while the killing of Athik Timung during clashes further deepened communal tensions.
In response, the Assam Government imposed Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Suraksha Sanhita, restricting public assemblies, movement, and protest activities, alongside the suspension of mobile internet services to curb the spread of rumours and inflammatory content. Senior Ministers and top Police officials were deployed to the affected areas, and assurances were given that grievances would be addressed through dialogue rather than coercion. A tripartite meeting involving the State Government, the KAAC, and representatives of the agitating groups was announced, to be chaired by the Chief Minister.
Beyond the immediate violence, the Karbi Anglong unrest reveals structural tensions embedded in the governance of autonomous hill districts. While the Sixth Schedule provides constitutional safeguards for tribal land and political autonomy, its implementation has often been fraught with contestation, particularly in regions marked by historical migration, informal settlement patterns, and ambiguous land records. Judicial interventions, including interim stays by the Gauhati High Court on earlier eviction drives, have further complicated administrative action, contributing to perceptions of policy paralysis among sections of the indigenous population.
At the same time, the targeting of non-tribal residents and the ethnic framing of the conflict raise serious concerns about social cohesion and communal polarisation in a region historically characterised by diversity and interdependence. The suspension of internet services, though justified by authorities as a preventive measure, also highlights the growing reliance on digital shutdowns as a tool of governance, with significant implications for civil liberties and access to information.
The violence in Karbi Anglong is not merely a law-and-order breakdown but a manifestation of deeper unresolved questions surrounding land rights, identity, and the limits of autonomy within India’s constitutional framework. Any sustainable resolution will require transparent land governance, inclusive dialogue that recognises both tribal and non-tribal concerns, and a renewed commitment to democratic processes under the Sixth Schedule.
