Gradually the rat is coming out from under the rug! Fresh evidence from the charred Santal village in Gaibandha suggest that police were directly involved in the burning of the Santal village Gobindaganj in the district, killing three people.
The villagers were protesting against atrocities by the local Member of Parliament (MP) and his hired goons who desperately tried to evict the Santals from their ancestral homes in favour of a sugar mills owners. Unable to do so, they in collusion with police torched their houses and threatened to loot the rice paddy the villagers were about to harvest.
A video that went viral in social media showed some cops setting fire to the Santal homes in the remote Gobindaganj village in Gaibandha district on November 6. The footage distinctly showed two men in police uniform and another in civil dress setting one house ablaze. Three Santals were shot dead, 20 were injured and many houses were set on fire during the eviction drive.
As the panicked villagers fled away, a handful of policemen torched their unoccupied shanties which went up in flames in a few moments.
The villainous act was matched solely by the ineptitude shown by the police who even did not fumble in lighting the fire. Within a short while, the whole village was razed, the video showed.
The police and their civilian cohorts strolled nonchalantly amid the burning huts - rejoicing over their successful "scorched earth" mission that displaced around 2000 Santals from their ancestral homes.
The dispute and clashes between police and locals was a sequel to forcible occupation of Santal lands under a forged contract by a local Sugar Mills owners, sources in Gobindanagj said. The extreme barbarity shown by the mill owners, police and the local political leader from the ruling party is a glaring example of how ruthlesslythe powerful rob the ordinary ones to grab their land and force them out of homes.
Police men carrying firearms fought protesting Santals armed with bows and arrows but the latter had to relent, witnesses said.
The reason behind the conflict was revealed to be eviction of the Santals when they attempted to reclaim their lands granted to the Rangpur Sugar Mills. The Santals lament they were deceived by the local lawmaker who promised them his support in securing their lands. The same lawmaker, they alleged, was involved in the attack that saw a small-scale invasion in the form of police, RAB, sugar mill workers, locals and many more essentially to expel the Santals from their lands.
In the wake of the initial conflict, 15 Santal villages in the Shahebganj-Bagda area were raided by police and sugar mill authorities with the support of local politicians. Police filed a case against 42 Santals who were granted bail by the High Court.
In 1955, the Rangpur Sugar Mills authorities acquired 1,842 acres of land where several hundred Santals had built their homes but the original owners of the land later demanded restoration of their right to the land of their forefathers.
A team led by National Human Rights Commission Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque on Monday visited Gobindaganj to probe the police attacks on Santal community people on November 6. The NHRC team would hold a public hearing and investigate the attacks.
Asked about the attack, Kazi Reazul Hoque said, 'We have received complaint from Santal community members against police for setting fire to their (Santal) houses. The miscreants were also empowered by the police to set the fire. But, we could not exactly identify who actually set the fire.'
The High Court on Monday exempted Gaibandha Deputy Commissioner Md Abdus Samad after he apologised by appearing before it for uttering slang "Bangali miscreants" in a report.
In his report he stated that Santal people and "Bangali miscreants" were locked in a clash with workers of Rangpur sugar mill on that day.
The clash broke out between the Santals, mill staff and police over eviction of the indigenous people from the disputed land. The clash left three Santal men dead and 20 others, including nine policemen, injured.
Accepting his apology, the HC summoned the Superintendent of Police of Gaibandha on January 2 when DC Abdus Samad informed the court that he used the words as the SP used similar words in his report on the incident.
The SP recently prepared report on the clash and submitted it to the local administration, The DC said.
The HC bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Krishna Debnath passed the order during hearing a writ petition filed by three rights organisations seeking necessary order on the Santal issue. The bench also fixed December 14 for passing further order on the petition.
