The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the Kerala government seeking a report within two weeks on alleged police atrocities on tribals in the state.

The notice was issued to the state chief secretary and director general of police following complaints that 16 tribals had been killed in the confrontation with the police at Muthanga on February 19, contrary to state government claim that only two persons were killed.

The complaint made by social activists, including noted Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, alleged "brutal action by Kerala police on the resistance movement of the tribals going on in the Muthunga forest region of Wayanand district of the state."

"The state machinery is using brutal force to contain the year-long struggle by the tribals for their genuine demands for land rights," the complaint alleged. It further said, "The unforgivable and cynical delay in delivering the land promised by the government of Kerala to these poor and most needy people had resulted in an unfortunate yet needlessly brutal confrontation resulting in 16 deaths, which included children and women."

Praying for the Commission's intervention, the activists claimed that apart from those killed in the police firing, scores had been injured and many arrested. "Many tribal were still lying injured inside the forest without any medical aid."

At the heart of the problem is a promise that Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony made to the country's best known tribal leader -- C K Janu who heads the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha -- more than a year ago.

After some tribals led by Janu set up tents outside the Kerala secretariat last year demanding land to the more than 200,000 of their people in the state, the chief minister pacified them by promising each tribal family five acres.

A section of UDF politicians led by Kerala Congress Pradesh Committee president K Muraleedharan had then warned Antony against making such lofty promises.

"Every political party in Kerala agrees that landless tribals should be given land. But the government erred in promising such a huge quantity of five acres to each tribal family," Muraleedharan told rediff.com

According to him, Kerala does not have so much free and cultivable or forest land to be distributed. "The maximum land that the government can give to each tribal family may be one acre," he said.

Muraleedharan said that the government's promise to give five acres could have been based on erroneous data compiled by some bureaucrats.

Scores of tribals led by Janu, who forcefully entered the Muthanga forest in Wayanad district declaring the area as 'self-ruled land', are now in police custody. At least 12 criminal cases have been slapped against Janu for the death of a policeman in the clashes.

The government is yet to make any concrete plans over how to keep its promise.

But Tribal Welfare Minister M A Kuttappan said the government would keep its promise. "The government has already distributed 1,747 acres of land to tribals in the past one year. We are in the process of distributing some 1,840 acres of land to the tribals these days. We are committed to redress the grievances of the tribals in the state," Kuttappan told rediff.com

Kuttappan alleged that the ongoing stir has been motivated by rival political parties and dormant naxalite outfits in and outside the state. "Kerala has also asked the Central government for diversion of 30,124 acres of forest land for distribution among tribals," the minister said.

He said the government has also allotted Rs 5.5 crore for construction, land development, agricultural activities and providing roads and water supply in tribal areas.

The agitation has been a cause for concern for Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Police intelligence reports said thousands of tribesmen, who were evicted from the Muthanga forest have sneaked into the nearby Karnataka and Tamil Nadu forests.