Victims yet to file any case for fear of reprisal
Victims yet to file any case for fear of reprisal
An AL lawmaker of Dinajpur and JS whip visited Okrabari village in Chirirbandar upazila yesterday just to hear that after 40 days of an attack on Hindus, the victims were yet to file any case against the culprits who torched their 43 shops.
During his visit, whip Iqbalur Rahim ensured the victims all kinds of cooperation and action.
According to the locals, the Jamaat-Shibir and BNP men carried out the arson attack and looted and damaged 43 shops of Hindus at Okrabari soon after the end of January 5 election.
The villagers alleged that those opposed to election attacked the Hindus for casting vote on that day.
Ahsanul Haque, general secretary of Chirirbandar upazila AL and principal of Khosna SC School and College, said his institution was a poll centre in the area and Jamaat-Shibir and BNP men attacked it after 2:00pm on January 5.
After that, around 60 to 70 Jamaat-Shibir and BNP men, armed with sharp weapons and wooden sticks, came to the area and started searching for shops of Hindus. They attacked, damaged, looted and torched them, Haque told the whip.
Two rooms of the polling centre were also burnt, he added.
Boidyanath Roy, a grocery shop owner at Okarabari village said he had shut and left his shop on January 5 guessing something wrong in the area.
The criminals looted goods worth Tk 2 lakh from my shop and later torched it, he said adding that the affected people are yet to get any compensation.
The locals also alleged that nobody came to inquire about their condition in the last 40 days.
Also the victims are yet to file any case in connection with the incident, fearing reprisal by Jamaat-Shibir men and BNP, said several villagers.
"We were attacked for casting votes. If we file case, then it would be impossible for us to live here," said a villager requesting anonymity.
However, a case was filed for attacking the polling centre.
Contacted, Mukur Chowdhury, general secretary of Dinajpur BNP, refuted the allegation of attack on Hindus by his party men during the January 5 poll.