High Court orders Gaibandha administration to allow Santals to harvest paddy

Santals in Gaibandha have been allowed to harvest their paddy on the disputed land of the Rangpur Sugar Mill, the High Court has ordered.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 17 Nov 2016, 07:37 AM
Updated : 19 Nov 2016, 12:14 PM

If that is not possible, the local administration and sugar mill management will have to ensure the Santals got their paddy, it said.

The order came on Thursday after the court heard a petition by human rights groups, Ain O Salish Kendra, Association for Land Development (ALRD), Broti Samaj Kalyan Sangstha.

The Santals, who had been evicted from the land in the district's Gabindaganj Upazila, claim they had planted paddy in 100 acres and pulse, mustard and jute in another 800 acres.

On Nov 6, when the Santals were evicted from the land acquired by the sugar mill, their houses as well as the pulse, mustard and jute crop they had harvested were looted.

The paddy fields were, however, left untouched. But the sugar mill management have put up barbed wire fence to delineate the boundaries.

The homeless Santals fear that their crops will be damaged if not harvested in by 10 to 12 days.

On Thursday, the HC bench of justices Obaidul Hassan and Krishna Debnath also issued a rule asking the authorities why its inaction over protecting the ethnic community would not be declared illegal.

Secretaries to home and public administration ministries, Gaibandha deputy commissioner and superintendent of police (SP), local MP and Gabindaganj UP chairman have been told come up with explanations.

The court also ordered the local administration to ensure security for the evicted Santals.

Gaibandha SP and Gabindaganj police OC have been told to file a report within 10 days on the security measures and other details like, whether cases have been started over the looting.

The court has set Nov 30 for the next hearing on the matter.

In 1962, the factory authorities acquired 1,840 acres of land in 18 villages occupied by Santals and Bengalis for sugar cane farming.

The ethnic community now wants the land back as it had been leased out for farming tobacco and paddy, which they say, a violation of the deed.

Earlier this year, the Santals started to live on the land.

On Nov 6, the sugar mill management conducted an eviction drive. A clash erupted and the houses of Santals were vandalised and looted.

Police claimed they opened fire to stop the clash, but three Santal men died and many others were injured.

During the clash, houses of Santals were ransacked and looted.

The government says the land did not belong to the Santals and that they were being used as 'pawns of the land grabbers.'

The evicted Santals, who have been now living on the premises of a local church, want to live on what they insist is their ancestral land.

The firing on the Santals has triggered widespread protests across Bangladesh, including the capital Dhaka.