Case filed over eviction drive on Santals

Swapan Marmu, son of Somesh Marmu, from the community in Moalipara village in the upazila, filed the case early Thursday accusing 500-600 unknown people, says Gobindaganj police station OC Subrata Kumar Sarkar. On the contrary, Jatiya Adivasi Parishad President Rabindranath Soren claimed the case was not filed by the affected Santals. He said: “Police have tactfully made a Santal, who lives outside of Madarpur and Joypurpara communities, file the case to save the real culprits. We will file a case on Sunday.” The OC said police detained five people - Manik Miah, Badsha Miah, Choyan Miah, Abdur Rashid and Shah Newaz - on late Wednesday night and showed them arrested in the case report. “They were sent to court on Thursday noon.” On November 6 and 7, the upazila administration evicted around 600 Santal households from their ancestral land in Sahebganj-Bagda Sugar Mill area. Three Santal men died and many more injured as they protested the eviction. The eviction was carried out by police, RAB and BGB members, and assisted by local Bangalis, allegedly loyal to the local lawmaker. "Local Bangalis were invited via loudspeakers to take part in the eviction, looted the houses before burning them to to the ground", claimed Santal community members. After the incident, the authorities filed cases against the Santals for impeding the law enforcers from carrying out their duty. The incident created massive uproar across the country as activists condemned the act of the local administration and the law enforcers, and questioned the motive of the sugar mill authorities who identified the land as being abandoned and suggested setting up economic zone there. However, as per the lease agreements signed with the local Santals, the land is supposed to be returned back to the owners if it is not used for growing sugarcane. The evicted Santals have been living under the sky and have limited access to water and foods since the brutal attack. Many of them have fled their village to avoid arrest. So far, some individuals and philanthropic groups have visited the area to distribute food and clothes among the affected Santals. The government has, however, blamed certain quarters for using the Santals as pawns to grab the land.