‘Law enforcers stood mum’

Law enforcers stood mum as the marauders conducted their mayhem at the puja mandaps during Durga Puja, several of the victims told the hearing while giving their deposition to it.

In many cases, police and administrative officials did not respond to their calls for help immediately, which allowed the miscreants to carry out their atrocities unobstructed. In places where members of the Hindu community challenged them, they were injured by the attackers, the victims said.

They were providing deposition before the mass commission formed to investigate into the series of communal and fundamentalist violence in Bangladesh, hosted at the port city's Shilpakala Academy.

Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee and the Parliamentary Caucus on Ethnic and Minority Affairs jointly formed the commission chaired by Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik.

During the hearing, the victims alleged that the police are yet to arrest the main culprits who are roaming free in their respective areas, issuing threats to withdraw cases filed against them.

The victims also said a majority of the miscreants were not locals and were never seen in their areas.

In most cases, the attackers tried to severe generator connections so that they can carry out the violence in the dark of the night. Many of them went live on Facebook during the violence.

The victims alleged that many of the miscreants organised themselves by meeting at the ruling Awami League associate organisations' offices, for example, the Joy Bangla Parishad in Baro Uthan union of Karnaphuli upazila.

They also mentioned how in some neighbourhoods, Muslims of the area stepped in to protect Hindu houses from attacks.

Legal scholar Barrister Turin Afroj; Engr Delwar Majumder, president of Chattogram district unit of the Nirmul Committee; Dr Mahfuzur Rahman, chairpersonm of Research Centre for Bangladesh Freedom Struggle and Liberation War Trust; and Dr Md Alauddin, professor of Chittagong University's anthropology department, were present at the event.

Barrister Turin said the visit was part of their tour at affected districts on behalf of the commission to investigate the recent communal attacks and for public hearings over the issue.

"We will go to a few more other districts and will take deposition of victims to ascertain the severity of the attacks. We will then publish a report illustrating our findings and recommendations for the state," she said.

'One of them even kicked a pregnant woman'

While describing his experience of the communal attacks that took place in October 13, Sajal Das, vice president of Karnaphuli Thana Puja Udjapan Parishad and president of Juldha Shah Mirpur Sarbajanin Puja Udjapan Parishad, said, "It was around 5pm on the Ashtami day. The puja mandap's loudspeaker was switched on as usual. But suddenly, some 30 people aged around 15 to 16 years arrived and ordered us to turn off our loudspeaker."

"Immediately, we called up the UNO and she arrived in haste. She stayed with us till 7pm, but as soon as she left, some people came out of the nearby Joy Bangla Parishad office and joined a waiting mob. Together all of them numbered around 150 people," the 35-year-old told the commission.

"They started coming towards the mandap. The OC of Karnaphuli Police Station tried to stop them, but they broke through and entered our premises."

The group began their rampage soon enough. Snapping the generator connection at the mandap, they did everything in their powers, from getting on to the stage to dragging idols to the ground, Sajal said.

"As I protested, they threatened to kill me. Some of them dispersed and started entering Hindu houses in the neighbourhood. One of them even kicked a pregnant woman."

"After the incident, a local UP member proposed to donate Tk 3 lakh to the puja committee in a bid to come to a negotiation," said Sajal. "He kept pressuring us to withdraw the case we filed over the attacks, or face dire consequences."

'Jaharlal still fighting for life in hospital'

Recounting the events. Rajib Guha, president of Napora Shekher Khil Sarbajanin Kalibari Management Committee, said, "When slogan-chanting marauders marched towards our area on October 13 night, our members tried to resist."

"But we were overmatched. They rounded us up with ease, beat some of us up and hurled brickbats at others. Thirty-five of our members were injured in the melee."

"One of them, Jaharlal Ghosh, got hit on his head by a brickbat and is now fighting for his life at the hospital," Rajib said. He alleged that the attackers vandalised a total of four out of the five gates at the temple, all while the police stood by silently.