Two nabbed for land-grabbing

Police on Tuesday arrested two people on charges of forcibly grabbing land belonging to a Hindu family at Patgram Upazila in Lalmonirhat district.

Lalmonirhat Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 11 March 2014, 11:22 AM
Updated : 11 March 2014, 11:54 AM

Those arrested were identified as Aanar Khan and Sultan Khan of Baura village of Patgram Upazila.

The arrests came a day after the High Court on Monday directed the Superintendent of Police (SP), Lalmonirhat district to arrest those who grabbed the land of the Hindu family within 48 hours.

Officer-in-Charge of the Patgram Police Station Mohammad Amiruzzaman told bdnews24.com that the accused were produced in the court which ordered to jail.

He said that the police was trying to arrest the other accused in the case.

According to the case details, Bhabani Kanta Singh and his two sons, residents of Rasulpur village at Patgram Upazila, were coerced into handing over a 32-decimal plot to Boura Union Awami League President Rabiul Islam Miron.

Later, they were forced to sign a non-judicial stamp paper, stating that they were handing over the plot's ownership to Miron.

They were forced to sign on the stamp paper at local Awami League leader Nazrul Islam’s house.

Singh filed a case when Rabiul started constructing a house on the land.

'Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh', a rights group, lodged a public interest litigation petition with the High Court seeking the arrest of the land grabbers after English-language daily ‘The Daily Star’ published a report on Mar 2 headlined ‘Hindu’s land grabbed by AL leader’.

After the primary hearing on the petition, the High Court bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice ABM Altaf Hossain on Monday ordered police administration of Lalmonirhat to arrest the perpetrators responsible for grabbing land of the Hindu family within 48 hours.

The court also directed the SP to submit a report within seven working days complying with its order.

It also asked Inspector General of Police (IGP) to submit a report within 30 days.

It also asked why the authorities should not be directed to guarantee the safety and protection of Hindus and their property in the area.

The home secretary, IGP, deputy inspector general (DIG) of police in Rangpur division, SP of Lalmonirhat, OC of Patgram Police Station, land grabbers Robiul Islam Miron and Nazrul Islam have been asked to reply to the rule in two weeks.