‘Want to enjoy full rights of a citizen’
In August 2014, Bichitra Tirki -- leader of the indigenous Orao community and mother of a two-year-old at the time -- was attacked by land grabbers in Chapainawabganj’s Gomostapur.
She was gang-raped and beaten mercilessly before all of her 48 bigha land was grabbed.
Apart from legal action, Bichitra walked 60km while carrying her child, demanding a separate land commission to have her land rights established in October that year.
Five years later, she managed to get back 42 bigha of land. Six bigha are still occupied by the land grabbers.
The rape case is still under trial. The demand for a separate land commission remains unmet.
“Our woes are never-ending. As if we, who do not possess money and power, are not eligible to enjoy full rights of a citizen in this country,” Bichitra yesterday said, breaking into tears, while describing her plight at a public hearing held on the occasion of Human Rights Day.
“Hundreds of us have left the country. If the government doesn’t want us, we too will leave,” Bichitra said.
The hearing was organised jointly by three NGOs -- Onogroshor Somaj Unnayan Shangstha, Trinamul Shangstha and Kakon Bohumukhi Unnayan Shangstha -- at Friends’ Peak auditorium in Rajshahi city.
Over 200 indigenous men and women from Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj and Naogaon joined the public hearing.
Speakers described incidents of atrocities that the indigenous communities faced over efforts to grab their land.
These incidents recur due to their lack of political and financial empowerment, they said, demanding establishment of a separate land commission for quick solution to their land-related issues.
Prof Biswajit Chanda of law and land administration department at Rajshahi University, who conducted the hearing, said they would sent the statements to the prime minister.
Land grabbers damaged crops on one acre of land of an indigenous man in Niamatpur upazila for two consecutive years, Nokul Pahan of Naogaon said.
He said they sexually assaulted two indigenous girls at Manda upazila on October 10 and six days later they attacked the girls’ house -- leaving seven of the family injured -- for protesting the incident.
Tapas Ekka of Godagari said, after completing graduation, he discovered some deeds which showed that his mother owns a piece of land that another villager was claiming.
“Only after looking into the land records, I learnt one of my uncles gave away the land to my mother. A villager occupied the land after my uncle left the country,” he said.
Taking advantage of poverty, the land grabbers are using some indigenous men against their communities -- in their bid to grab ancestral land, some of the speakers said.
They said, some 16 indigenous people were hospitalised in Gomostapur of Chapainawabganj last week, following a clash between two factions of indigenous men.
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