Members of seven ethnic minority families in Pachondor Mahalipara under Tanore upazila of Rajshahi district are living under open sky as the local administration along with the associates of land grabbers demolished their houses.
On 30 March, a police team along with 150 men of alleged three land grabbers went to the area and swooped on the people with sticks, machetes and spears. They also demolished their houses, said locals.
Police said they had demolished the houses as per the court’s order.
The victims are Lobin Murmu, 50, his brother Mangra Murmu, 45, Biren Kisku, 45, Anjila Tudu, 50, his brother Keletus Tudu, 40, Johon Hasda, 55, and 70-year-old widow Sokoda Karmakar.
The families cannot afford to manage their daily expenses, let alone build new houses. They are leading an inhuman life.
Sokoda Karmakar told Dhaka Tribune that she made a roof of straw for her house but Thursday’s storm had blown it away.
Police along with the grabbers damaged their houses without any notice adding that victim Lobin Murmu demanded immediate recovery of their land from the grabbers.
Another victim Anjila said they had been living in the land for the last 40 years. But the three grabbers Fazlur Rahman, Anisur Rahman and Estab Ali now claimed its ownership.
Leaders of ethnic people urged the authorities concerned to protect the ethnic people from eviction. They demanded a separate land commission for the ethnic people.
Rabindranath Saren, president of Jatiya Adibashi Parishad, talking to Dhaka Tribune demanded a separate land commission for the minority groups.
He said: “If the government meet their demand, the ethnic people will get the rights to their own lands.”
Tanore police station Officer-in-Charge Bazlur Rashid, however, said Fazlur Rahman, Anisur Rahman and Estab Ali of Sadipur village of Tanore filed a case with a Rajshahi court 11 years ago claiming ownership of the 32-decimal land and they got the court order last December.
The court also ordered the local administration to hand over the land after evicting the illegal occupants, the OC added.
Deputy Commissioner Mezbah Uddin Choudhury said he asked the public prosecutor to file a case against Fazlur Rahman, Anisur Rahman and Estab Ali.
He also said if the government won the case, the DC office would lease out the land to the ethnic people.
