After almost five decades of being forcibly evicted to create a protected area, in May 2025, 150 tribals attempted to exercise their ancestral land rights by entering the Nagarhole National Park and Tiger Reserve forest. The move is seen as a protest against the delay in addressing the forest rights claims raised by adivasis.

For years now, the tribes of Jenu Kuruba, Betta Kuruba, Yarava and Paniya have been demanding implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006, but no headway have been made in being granted "patta" in the area. 

On the evening of 5 May 2025, 52 Jenu Kuruba families laid claim to their rights to live in their traditional village by building homes for their sacred deities, which is a common practice in their community when they rebuild a village. On 6 May, over 120 officials from the Karnataka Forest Department and the Karnataka State Tiger Protection Force (STPF) sought to prevent the tribals from entering the forests.

The tribals claim that despite following all legal procedures, the Forest Department has been delaying both individual and community forest rights claims for years.

Historically, the Jenu Kurubas - the original inhabitants of the forests of Mysuru and Kodagu districts in Karnataka - have faced forced displacement and harassment. The tribe, primarily composed of hunter-gatherers, was listed as a primitive tribe by the state government in 1986 and today is classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG). Besides honey-gathering, the tribe also collects minor forest produce and practises sustainable shifting cultivation for sustenance.

During the colonial era, the Coorg Forest Department imposed strict restrictions on forest dwellers' access to forest resources. After independence, the expansion of plantations forced the Jenu Kurubas off their ancestral lands to make way for the Kabini, Taraka and Nugu dams as well as plantation estates. These dams submerged large tracts of forestlands around Nagarahole, displacing as many as 500 tribal families.

The Wild Life Protection Act of 1972 further intensified the displacement. According to a 2014 report, over 3,400 families were displaced during the 1970s and 1980s, outside the forest with the promise of rehabilitation with agricultural land-promises that, like many others, were never fulfilled. The majority of the tribes are now working as landless bonded labourers on coffee plantations as bonded labourers. In 1983, Nagarahole was declared a national park and later designated as a tiger reserve in 1999. In response to the state's anti-tribal policies, the communities from Nagarhole and Kakanakote formed the Budakattu Krishigara Sangha (the Indigenous Peasants’ Organisation).

In December 2016, in Diddahalli, JCBs escorted by the Karnataka Police and CRPF entered on the orders of the forest department and demolished the tribal settlement without any prior notice or communication. Many residents were injured as their houses were razed. Trenches were dug to prevent their return. After protests and mounting pressure, the then Minister of Social Welfare, H Anjaneya, promised a resettlement plan and handed over a cheque of Rs 1 crore. The forcefully evicted tribal families were moved 50 km away, where the district administration used the allocated funds to build box-like tarpaulin sheds. Years later, almost all the resettlement sites still lack basic amenities such as medical care, schools and transportation facilities. The housing remains poorly constructed, with no functional toilets.

In May 2017, after the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) ordered against the distribution of FRA titles within the core area of the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, the tribal community protested before the district collector, demanding the withdrawal of the unconstitutional order. In 2019, the Supreme Court of India ordered the evictions of forest-dwellers in states where nearly two million FRA claims had been rejected. Following widespread national protests, the court stayed the eviction order, allowing further review. In June 2019, LCW reached out to Abhiram G. Shankar and Sreevidya P.I., the then district collectors of Mysuru and Kodagu, respectively, for comment, but was unable to get a response. A source from the Kodagu administration, requesting anonymity, told LCW that the review of FRA claims was underway.

In March 2021, the community launched an indefinite protest against the evictions. They also opposed the government's eco-tourism push in the ecologically sensitive Nagarhole National Park and Tiger Reserve. Several community members, including prominent leaders, were reportedly subjected to threats, intimidation and harassment by forest officials.

Despite having applied for community forest rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) as early as 2009 and following up repeatedly, the applications were rejected in 2022 without any explanation. While some people received the Individual Forest Rights (IFR), the community continues to face harassment by the forest officials, including court cases filed against six prominent tribal leaders. In 2021-22, a joint verification process involving the forest, revenue, tribal welfare and panchayat raj departments was ordered but was only conducted in 2023-24. As of now, the Sub-Divisional Level Committee and the District Level Committee have yet to submit the re-verification data.

An interim fact-finding report published in 2023 highlighted the serious precarious living and working conditions of the Adivasi workers in the plantations. It also recorded that in the last few years, at least eight Adivasis have been shot dead by the Forest Department officials on different pretexts, but there has been no criminal conviction in any of these cases, nor any compensation to the families. The free, prior and informed consent of Gram Sabha, in writing, has not been taken before relocation, which is a mandatory requirement as per Section 4(2)(e) of the FRA, 2006. To break out from these chains of bonded slavery in coffee plantations, nearly 30 families living across Line Manes (workers' homes) have asserted their rights to their forest habitats by moving into Balekovvu and Nanachi Gadde Haadis and have been living there since 3 April 2023. 

Later in March 2025, former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) BK Singh urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to stop allocating three acres of land each to claimants in the National Park. Such interventions by forest officials, ex-officers, are seen as part of a sustained effort to obstruct the community's legally guaranteed rights under the FRA, amounting to systemic discrimination and violations against the tribe.

On 8 May 2025, the Forest Department served notices to the people who have been protesting in Atturukolli reserve forest in Nagaragole tiger reserve in Kodagu. Nagarhole wildlife subdivision Assistant Conservator of Forests said that the High Court has imposed a stay and has directed not to conduct any activities in Nagarhole tiger reserve till July 23. However, in a press note dated 19 May 2025, released by the Karadikallu Grama Sabha, upon legal consultation, it is found that no such stay order or notice has been issued by the High Court of Karnataka.

As the situation remained tense in Nagarhole, the Union Ministry of tribal affairs on 18 May 2025 [directed](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/centre-to-karnataka-mitigate-jenu-kurubas-woes/articleshow/121247504.cms#:~:text=BENGALURU%3A In a significant relief,challenges faced by the community.) the Tribal Welfare Department of Karnataka to take necessary actions to mitigate the challenges faced by the community, monitor the process of recognition and vesting of forest rights and resolve such field-level problems. 

On 20 May 2025, the adivasis of Karadikallu Attur Kolli held a gram sabha to formally resubmit their claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 and decided to file case against a local gram panchayat officer under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly meddling with the forest rights of Jenu Kuruba families.