Armed Militants Kept Ranjan Saha Captive In Bangladesh For 16 Long Years, His Return Home Is A Ray Of Hope For Thousands

The release of Ranjan Saha on April 19, who was held captive for 16 years by armed militants in Bangladesh, was definitely a surprise homecoming for his family and also a ray of hope for the other captives out there.

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“I never tried to run away from their camp”, he said as he explained how the militants were pleased with his behaviour. Despite his ill health and hostile surroundings, he quietly continued to toil hard. The food was unpalatable but with his continued faith in God and the constant prayers to liberate him for  the sake of his wife, two sons and his beloved daughters, yielded result.

In captivity

Ranjan, a banana trader, was abducted from Takarjala area on April 8, 2000 by the extremists of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), when he went to procure banana from the rural markets to sell them in the town.

The National Liberation Front of Tripura (or NLFT) is a Tripuri nationalist Christian outfit  organisation based in Tripura, India.  It contains an estimated 550-850 members. The NLFT seeks to secede from India and establish an independent Tripuri state, and has actively participated in the Tripuri Rebellion. The NLFT manifesto says that they want to expand what they describe as the kingdom of God and Jesus Christ in Tripura..

Immediately after abduction the militants blindfolded Saha and only after a few hours, when the place was totally unknown to him, they unfolded his eyes.

Since then it was a long journey for him that ended in one of the militant’s makeshift camp. It took several days for him to know that it was in Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. Only about a month ago they again blind folded him and took him to an unknown destination, unfolded his eyes and se him free to go anywhere he wanted.

Toiling in the camps

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They made him do various type of works in their camp deep in a jungle in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) (in southeast Bangladesh). There were at least 25 other people, mostly kidnapped by the extremists, also working in the same camp along with two other traders who were kidnapped by the guerrillas at gunpoint. Since the abductors learnt that the captives were poor and did not have much money on them to pay ransom, they made them do various types of work, like cleaning and maintaining the camp, cooking, and collecting water, besides other odd jobs.

Family and their sufferings

While Saha was held captive by the militants, his 45-year-old wife Sumitra  struggled to make a living for the last 16 years. She brought up her children by working as a cook in a neighbour’s house. Her younger son Rajesh got a temporary job as a representative of a private company in Kolkata and from his meagre earnings she married off her daughter Sampa. 

Life after abduction for the family

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After Saha’s abduction, his family lodged a case in the Jirania police station and met a number of people, including ministers, senior police officers and other influential people in a bid to locate him.

Thus, for a family who had filed a death certificate for their bread winners in 2007, they were definitely at their wit's end when Ranjan Saha returned home after 16 long years after he had been abducted by armed militants who held him captive at their hideout in Bangladesh. He was let off for “good behaviour” as he never tried to escape.

Terrorism in Tripura

According to Tripura Police documents, during the peak years of terrorism in the state between 1997 and 2014, over 2,430 people, including legislators, political leaders, traders, government employees and civilians were kidnapped by extremists, of whom 1,705 were subsequently released. Violence that takes place daily in India's Northeast region, due to the insurgency of the terrorist, militant Christian groups that act in the area. These groups, in their promotion of Christianity, continue to kill thousands of local people in their attempt to ban all Hindu practices and convert everyone into Christians.

"For many years, abduction for ransom became a trade by the militants. Many people were released by the extremists after taking ransom but many people were killed as the victims' families either could not pay the money sought or did not fulfil the rebels' other demands," security and terrorism expert Manas Paul told IANS.

Members of NLFT undergo arms training in hideouts and covert camps in various parts of Bangladesh, which shares an 856-km border with Tripura.

Ranjan Saha, who is now being treated at the government-run Gobind Ballabh Pant Hospital and Medical college is looking forward to starting his business afresh after his health improves.