Cop's link to torching santal homes: Judicial probe ordered [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Cop's link to torching santal homes: Judicial probe ordered

Local December 15, 2016

The High Court Division on Wednesday directed Gaibandha chief judicial magistrate to hold a probe in 15 days and report whether the police took part in setting Santal homes ablaze after their eviction on November 6.
A bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Krishna Debnath also asked the CJM to find out the instigators of the ‘heinous crime’ or who bore the ‘responsibility’ for setting the fire.
The court issued the directives after hearing separate supplementary petitions from Ain O Salish Kendra and two Santal women.
The petitioners drew the court’s attention to Qatar based international news channel, Al Jazeera’s video footage, broadcast on December 11, showing a man in a pink T-shirt setting a shanty on fire right on the nose of a group of armed policemen.
The footage also shows law enforcers wearing bulletproof vests and helmets with RAB, Police and DB inscriptions marching to the Santals’ thatched houses in the afternoon on November 6.
The Al-Jazeera footage also shows Santal houses being set on fire by two uniformed policemen and another person in civil dress.
Another video footage posted of the Facebook shows a policeman pouring some liquid on the Santal houses before setting them on fire.
Justice Obaidul Hassan said, ‘as judges we can’t keep our eyes shut when such video footages are presented to us.’
At least three Santals were killed and five others received bullet injuries in police firing during their eviction drive on November 6 morning.
In the afternoon, 2,500 Santal houses were set ablaze.
The arsonists also stole 15 cows, 45 goats, 25 pigs and an unknown number of poultry birds belonging to 2,500 Santal families.
Case documents produced by Santals said that they incurred losses worth Tk three crore.
The bench, in the same order asked the Police Bureau of Investigation to investigate into the Santal killing during the eviction and forbade Gobindaganj police from doing it.
The bench directed the Rangpur range deputy inspector general of police to assign a PBI officer to investigate into the Santal killings under the supervision of an officer not below the rank of police superintendent.
The bench directed the PBI to investigate into the complaints of plaintiff Thomas Hemrom also treating all the cases as a single First Information Report.
The bench set January 8 for passing further orders on the matter.
The court issued the fresh order on the supplementary petitions while in the original writ petitions filed by the same petitioners the bench asked the government to explain why police action on Santals and their evictions would not be declared illegal.
As the police did not record Hemrom’s case he filed a general diary in which he informed that three Santals were killed in police firing and five others received bullet injuries.
Hemrom complained that Santals suffered torture and attacks by police and 500 to 600 unidentified people led by Abul Kalam Azad, MP, Rangpur Sugar Mill managing director Abdul Awal, UNO Abdul Hannan, Sugarcane firm manager Abdul Mazid, and Sapmara union chairman.
Lawyers AM Amin Uddin and Abu Obaidur Rahman appearing for ASK submitted that Sree Swapan Murmu had no locus standi to file a case as he was in no way affected in the incident.
They also submitted that Sawapan filed the case against the Santals, the victims and in favour of the police out of malafide intentions.
They submitted that Sawapan filed the case on November 16, that is 10 days after the occurrence of the incident, when the matter was being heard by the High Court.
Lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua, who appeared for Santal women Olivia Hembrom and Rumila Kisku, homeless since the eviction, prayed for judicial probe into the whole episode.
The government was represented by deputy attorney general Motaher Hossain Sazu.
In 1955 and 1956, the government acquired 1,842 acres of crop land at Gobindaganj, mostly belonging to ancestors of Santals on the condition that they would be used for a sugar mill, otherwise they would be returned.