Arrest Hindu’s land grabbers by 48hrs, HC asks cops

Update

• Arrest Hindu's land grabbers by 48hrs, HC asks cops (13th March 2014)
• Bangladesh : Hindu’s land grabbed by Awami League leader (5th March 2014)

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Arrest Hindu's land grabbers by 48hrs, HC asks cops

13th March 2014

The High Court today directed the superintendent of police in Lalmonirhat to arrest the people responsible for forcibly grabbing a piece of land of a Hindu family in Lalmonirhat in 48 hours.

In response to a writ petition filed by a rights organisation, the court also ordered the district police chief to submit a report before it after complying with the court directive.

According to the court order, the police official will have to submit the report in seven days.

On February 9, a group of ruling Awami League men picked up Bhabani Kanta Sen and his two sons, resident of Rasulpur village in Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat, and held them hostage at the house of a party leader, Nazrul Islam, in the same locality.

Later, they were forced to sign a non-judicial stamp, stating that they were handing over the ownership of a 32-decimal plot of land to Rabiul Islam Miron, president of the AL Bawra union unit.

During today's hearing, the HC also asked the Inspector General of Police to investigate the land grabbing allegation and submit a report before it in next 30 days after investigating the incident.

The HC bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice ABM Altaf Hossain came up with the order after holding hearing a writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) seeking the arrest of the people responsible in the land grabbing.

The rights organisation lodged the petition following a report published in The Daily Star on March 2 under the headline “Hindu's land grabbed by AL leader”.

In the petition, the HRPB prayed to the HC to direct the government to ensure security of the Hindus in Patgram and protect their rights to property.

It also urged the court to ask the government to form a committee to investigate the allegations against the ruling party men.

After the report was published, the administration asked the local police to take action. But police are yet to take any action in this regard. Instead, they tried to solve it through arbitration.

Source : The Daily Star

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Bangladesh : Hindu’s land grabbed by Awami League leader

5th March 2014

A ruling Awami League leader has forcibly occupied a piece of land of a Hindu family in Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat.

On February 9, Bhabani Kanta Sen and his two sons were picked up by a group of ruling party men and held hostage at the house of an AL leader, Nazrul Islam, in Rasulpur village of Bawra union.

Bhabani and his sons were forced to sign a non-judicial stamp, stating that they were handing over the ownership of a 32-decimal plot of land to Rabiul Islam Miron, president of the AL Bawra union unit.

Bidyut, son of Bhabani, said they had to sign the document as Rabiul’s men forced them to do so.

“I inherited 43 decimals of land. As a legal owner, I sold 11 decimals of land six months back,” Bhabani said, adding that he had been cultivating crops on the remaining 32-decimal piece of land.

Contacted, Rabiul said Bhabani and his sons had willingly signed the stamp stating that they did not have any claim on the land

Meanwhile, Rabiul has started building structure on the land.

Nazrul, also a close aide of Rabiul, said a meeting was held at his house where Bhabani had willingly signed the paper.

On February 16, Bhabani filed a case with Patgram Police Station.

Bhabani had shown necessary documents in support of his ownership, but Rabiul could not produce any, Officer-in-Charge Amiruzzaman told The Daily Star on February 26.

Rabiul claimed that his documents were gutted as his house caught fire a few years back.

The OC then said they would take legal actions in this regard after the upazila polls on February 27.

When contacted on February 28, the OC said they had asked Rabiul to show his documents by March 2 (today).

If he fails, he [Rabiul] would have to give up the land, the OC added.

Upazila AL president Anwarul Islam Nazu said they would take action against the AL men, if found guilty.

Source : Forum for Hindu Awakening