Seventeen land and human rights organisations on Tuesday demanded punishment for those involved in land grabbing from the Santal community and the arson attack on a Santal house in Gobindganj of Gaibandha.
The demand was made at a press conference organised by groups, including the Association for Land Reform and Development, Kapaeeng Foundation, Jatiya Adivasi Parishad, Nijera Kori, Bagdafarm Bhumi Uddhar Sangram Committee, and Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, at the National Press Club in Dhaka.
ALRD programme manager Rafiq Ahamed Serajee, in his keynote speech, stated that on January 3, Rajahar Union Parishad chairman Rafiqul Islam and his associates began filling land belonging to the Santal community in Rajabirat. Santals, protesting the act, were assaulted later.
He said that the chairman and his associates beat Nicholas Murmu, and when British Soren protested, the chairman threatened him with a stick and assaulted his mother Philomena Hansda, who was injured while trying to intervene and was then undergoing treatment at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital in Bogura.
Later that night, the chairman鈥檚 associates set fire to British Soren鈥檚 house, destroying furniture, clothes, and the roof, he added.
During a January 13鈥�15 visit to the area, activists learned that the dispute arose after the illegal sale of 3.72 acres of Santal land by a local individual to the chairman.
British Soren told to the activists that during the attack, the chairman slapped his elderly mother, causing ear bleeding, and then pushed her to the ground, resulting in serious injuries to her hands and legs.
The chairman, a leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was expelled from the party on January 5 after a case was filed the day before, accusing six named individuals, including the chairman, and 20-25 unnamed people by Julias Soren, Soren added.
The organisations called for a neutral investigation, the recovery of Santal lands and graveyards, and compensation for the victims.
