Resistance to extortion led to Bablu Hembrom's murder
Santal student leader Bablu Hembrom of Rajshahi was killed because he stopped his parents from paying local miscreants who had been extorting the family for several months in the name of giving protection to their seven bighas of land, President of Jatiya Adivasi Parishad Rabindranath Soren said yesterday.
Quoting family members, he said Bablu came to know of the extortion when he returned home in Tanore after completion of his postgraduate education at Rajshahi Government College. He was murdered within the next one month, he added.
Soren was addressing a JAP human chain in Rajshahi city, in which around a hundred indigenous people took part, demanding arrest of the killers.
Unknown assailants killed Bablu by slitting his throat at his house on January 8. The murder case, filed against unidentified people, has not seen any arrest yet.
Rajkumar Shaw, executive director of Adivashi Shangskritik Unnayan Shangstha, said a section of the police administration was apathetic to the indigenous people's issues.
“Not only are they showing indifference to this murder, they also ignore the cases of rape, attack on Adivasi houses and land grabbing. On the back of this, many indigenous families are leaving the country,” he said.
Officer-in-Charge of Tanore Police Station Anwar Hossain, however, said Bablu's family was not giving them any clue about the suspects. In addition, police were not able to pay enough attention to the case amid political violence, he told The Daily Star.
Quoting Bablu's parents, Rabindranath Soren said the family did not have confidence in police and were not telling them anything fearing further reprisals by the criminals.
Leaders of Workers Party of Bangladesh, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal, Jubo Moitree, Chhatra Moitree, Adivasi Chhatra Parishad, freedom fighters, NGO activists and professionals also joined the human chain.
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