desk report ||
A video of police setting fire to houses of Santals during an eviction drive in Gaibandha’s Gobindaganj has gone viral on the social media.
Several media outlets, including a foreign one, have published reports on the video.
Police, however, say they did not set fire to Santal houses and knew nothing about the video.
On Nov 6, Santals were evicted from several hundred houses built on a land acquired by Rangpur Sugar Mill.The tribesmen clashed with sugar mill workers and police and their houses were looted, vandalised and burnt down.
Police opened fire on the Santals, killing three of them. That attracted huge criticism across the country.
In the video of the incident, policemen are seen firing on a Santal village.
Some policemen are seen kicking against a house and one of them is setting fire to it.
Another person in plain clothes is seen helping police spread the fire to other houses.
In another part of the video, several policemen wearing helmets are seen setting fire to a house.
One of them wore a dress with ‘DB’ (Detective Branch) printed on it. Another law-enforcer wore a dress with ‘police’ printed on it.
One Shanewaz Sumon shared the video on Facebook and wrote: “Bangladesh Police are setting fire to Santal houses. Santals have been alleging from the beginning that police set fire to their houses.”High Court lawyer Mustafizur Rahman Khan wrote: “I strongly protest such shameless propaganda by Al Jazeera. I refuse to believe that the honest, brave and patriotic police of Bangladesh will set fire to Santal homesteads. I am sure the police was actually trying to put out the fires.
“However,” he added, “in the unlikely event I am wrong.”
He then referred to the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, to define crimes against humanity.
Lawyer Khan also wrote, “While we cry for the Rohingya, we should bear in mind that humanity, like charity, begins at home.”
One Taqbir Huda wrote: “The Santals have been ousted from their ancestral lands and their homes have been burnt. This has forced them to live under trees at a time and place where temperatures tend to be the lowest in Bangladesh. Furthermore, the police have even cracked down on protesters using rubber bullets, killing at least two and injuring dozens more.”
Another person, Tahmid Hasan, wrote: “Would we have known about this particular incident if Al Jazeera’s crews didn’t happen to be there? More importantly, now that we do know about it, do we care?’ Bangladeshi Police torching the houses of Santals in Gaibandha”
Facebook user Esrafil Farazi demanded proper investigation into police’s involvement in the arson on Santal houses.
Anjan Baidya wrote in Bangla, “When the protector is the looter! Bangladesh Police first set fire to houses of religious minority Santals.”
Asked for comments on the video, Gobindaganj Police Station OC Subrata Kumar Sarker told “We went there after the miscreants torched the houses. We called Fire Service and tried to douse the fire.”