Grabbing of a minority family's land

In yet another shameful act of minority persecution, a man in Lalmonirhat grabbed a piece of land belonging to a local Hindu family. Khagendranath, the owner of the land, said he was even threatened with dire consequence if he ever intends to visit his land in future.

The grabber did not even hesitate to admit that he grabbed the land. While talking to a correspondent of this newspaper, he unashamedly said that the owner had promised to sell the land to him, but since he was declining to do so now, he thought it was only fair to occupy it!

This incident is an indictment of what a minority family is facing in our society. Perhaps, this was not an extraordinary case and we recognise that this could happen to a Muslim family, too.  But, the grabber's blatant admission indicates that his conviction was such that he would easily get away with occupying a minority family's land.

We appreciate that the police went to the spot following a complaint filed by the victim. However, we wonder why the illegal occupant wasn't arrested immediately but given 48 hours to vacate the land. He should be arrested, and appropriate legal actions taken against him. We would also urge the local administration to provide the family with security if needed, lest the influential grabber intimidate them.