'30-minute violence left them completely helpless'

After the attacks began on Sunday night, men, women and children narrowly escaped with their lives and took shelter in nearby paddy fields and bamboo woods and they had stayed there for whole night.

They returned home after police and Rapid Action Battalion personnel made announcement through hand mikes on Monday morning, requesting them to return. As they arrived, they found their houses turned into a pile of debris.

Temples, puja mandaps and businesses of Hindu community have come under attacks in various places of the country following the alleged desecration of Holy Quran in Cumilla on 13 October.

The latest attacks on Hindus’ homes took place in Majhipara village of Pirganj upazila’s Ramnathpur union on Sunday night.

According to police, witnesses and villagers, a tense situation prevailed in Majhipara village on Sunday after allegations surfaced a youth from another area of the village made a defamatory post on religion in social media platform Facebook.

After that, police beefed up security to the youth’s house and its adjoining area on Sunday night. Hundreds of angry people then attacked another Hindu settlement in Boro Karimpur in other side of the village.

Following the incident, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members along with police and RAB have been deployed in Majhipara since Monday. Tension prevailed in the area. Police on Monday evening said two cases were filed accusing more than 500 people. Nearly 45 people were arrested.

Ranagpur superintendent of police Biplab Kuram Sarkar told Prothom Alo no attacker would be spread. Like the Pakistani occupation forces, the perpetrators attacked homes, looted and set houses and properties on fire. The arrestees are being interrogated and each one of them who carried out such destruction would be brought to book, he added.

Residents of Majhipara said tension started prevailing since Sunday noon over the Facebook post of the youth. Locals and residents from neighbouring villages had started gathering since the afternoon. A large number of people gathered in Majhipara village and started chanting slogans.

On information, around 15 to 20 policemen took position near the house of the youth, who posted the Facebook status, to prevent any possible attack. Seeing the presence of police, the mob retreated from the youth house and then attacked another settlement of the Hindus in Boro karimpur area.

Meanwhile, police said the youth has been arrested from Joypurhat on allegation of making defamatory post against religion on Facebook.

Chairman of Ramnathpur union praishad Sadikul Islam told Prothom alo, “We along with police had stood guard in the area where the youth’s house is located but the attack took place in another area.”

According to witnesses’ accounts, tension had prevailed in Boro Karimpur area for long but violence reached its peak about 10:30pm and the mayhem had continued for about 30 minutes.

Station officer of Pirganj fire services Ratan Sharma told Prothom Alo firefighters doused the blaze around 3:00am Monday.

Police claimed they fired several blank rounds to disperse the mob after the attacks began in Boro Karimpur area. Police remained deployed for entire night.

The victims, however, claimed police were on duty within the 500 yards of the spot but they arrived after the violence.

Shirish Chandra Roy from Boro Karimpur area said, “Finally, police arrived, but it was too late and villagers lost everything by then.”

Visiting Boro Karimpur around 5:30am on Monday, police and RAB personnel were seen making announcement in hand mikes requesting the people of Hindu community to return homes and reassuring them of no further violence. Those who had returned a while ago were seen wailing in front of their burnt houses.

A woman told Prothom Alo a crowd of 700-800 people chanting slogans started coming to their houses at night suddenly. Men, women and children abandoned their houses and took shelter in nearby paddy fields and bamboo woods. The miscreants then set houses on fire one after another.

Prothom Alo spoke to at least 15 people who took refugees in paddy fields. They said the nearby paddy fields are a bit on the higher ground and there had been no rain for several days. The soil was hard. They hid in the paddy fields. Children were crying as paddy leaves made them itching. But parents pressed their children’s mouths.

Certain Bikel Roy told Prothom Alo, “When mob set fire to my house, I took my baby and hid in the field. All the money were looted. There is nothing to feed the baby now."

Nanda Rani and her mother-in-law Sumati Rani were wailing in front of a burnt house. Four tin-shed houses of Sumati Rani’s three sons have been torched. Everything including furniture were burnt. Their barn was also set ablaze. Two cows were burnt to death. One of her sons operated a battery-run auto-rickshaw that was also torched.

Pradip Chandra, elder son of Sumati Rani, told Prothom Alo two of the attackers caught him and started beating while he was escaping. At one stage, he managed to escape. When he returned home at dawn, he found their homes were torched and Tk 25,000 and a television set were looted.

In Boro Karimpur area, most of the houses are made of wood and tin-shed. There are several houses with concreate wall. A sound of crying was heard from a house. It was Rani and her 9-year-old daughter Barsha. Rani’s husband Nani Gopal arrived after a while and tried to console his wife. He told Prothom Alo his four tin-shed houses, rice and paddy stock and furniture were burnt to ashes.

There were three small grocery shops in Boro Karimpur and all of those were torched. The family of Konika Rani owned one of the shops. Kanika Rani told Porthom Alo there were goods worth Tk 150,000 at the shop. She was seen searching in the ashes of the shop whether anything was left.

Purnima Rani is one of them whose houses were set ablaze. She said when the attackers entered the house, they first looked for her daughters. She told them her daughters were not at home.

Another woman Nayani Rani bought a bhori of gold and collected Tk 100,000 for her daughter’s marriage. But the attackers took everything, she said.

Local resident Niranjan Roy gave an estimate of damage inflicted on Boro Karimpur area. He said 21 houses of 15 families were burnt completely. At least, 50 houses were vandalised. The attackers looted at least 25 cattle and 10 goats. And there was no exact assessment on how much money and gold was looted.

According to the Pirganj fire services, 10 houses were torched and 19 others were vandalised.

Locals said since police started arresting the suspects, men from Majhipara left the village.

Abdul Wahab Bhuiyan, commissioner of Rangpur division, Asib Ahsan, deputy commissioner of Rangpur, Debdas Bhattacharya, deputy inspector general of police, visited the spot.

Deputy commissioner Asib Ahsan said clothes, beds and foods were provided to the victims immediately by the Rangpur district and police administrations. Damaged houses would be repaired and money would be provided to buy furniture, he added.

When Santana Rani, a resident of Boro Karimpur, returned home by dawn, she was desperately searching for her 9-year-old son and she had no concern over the lootings or the vandalism at her house.

Haripad Roy of Boro Karimpur told Prothom Alo, after a frantic search, the boy was found climbing up a bamboo tree in a wood. The child had been there whole night while his mother took shelter in the paddy field.

The mother and the son were seen crying hugging each other. The boy looked terrified. Santana Rani told Prothom Alo, “I have got my son back. I want nothing else. I only want trial of those people who vandalised and looted my house.”

This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Hasanul Banna