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ATTACK ON MUNDA COMMUNITY

‘We daren’t get out of our homes’
Satkhira villagers gripped by fear as attackers still roam freely
SAJJAD HOSSAIN
August 19. It was perhaps the most traumatising day for 16-year-old Bidhan Munda when he had to silently watch his grandfather being beaten to a pulp by a group of criminals.
Critically injured, Narendra Nath Munda, 65, was admitted to Satkhira Medical College Hospital, but died the very next day.
The attack, according to the indigenous Munda community, was carried out by people who are out to grab their land in Dhumghat village of Satkhira’s Shyamnagar upazila.
Witnesses said Rashidul Islam Sardar and his brother Ebadul Islam Sardar went to the village, locally known as Antakhali Mundapara, with over 100 people wielding sticks and iron rods to evict eight Munda families from their homes that day.
When Sulta Rani Munda, 35, Bilashi Rani Munda, 37, Rani Munda 35, and Narendra protested, the attackers beat them up, which ultimately resulted in Narendra’s death.
Since that day, the community has been gripped by fear and trauma.
Narendra’s grandson Bidhan, a ninth-grader, said, “My grandfather was working on his cropland when they came and started beating him savagely.
“From a few yards away, I started filming the attack with my mobile phone. But they noticed it and chased me. They took my phone away and threatened to kill me if I didn’t leave.”
He added, “I was so scared that I went back home and watched my grandfather being beaten from there.”
Since the attack, Bidhan has been too afraid to get out of home. He has even stopped going to school.
As a matter of fact, all 19 Munda students -- 17 school-going and two college-going -- of the village have stopped attending classes in fear of more such attacks.
Supriya Munda, a student of Shyamnagar Atarjan Girls’ College, said, “I don’t feel safe anymore. I have stopped going to college out of fear.”
Ramesh Munda, father of primary school student Kaushik Munda, said, “We all have stopped sending our children to school as the entire community is still in a state of panic.”
During a recent visit, this correspondent found the village, where around 200 Munda people live, to be relatively empty, with locals mostly staying indoors.
Narendra’s son Sanatan Munda said, “We go out only to buy daily essentials, and that too in groups of seven to eight. No one ventures out alone anymore.”
Another villager, Nirmal Munda, said that when they have to go out, they try to make it back home by the afternoon.
“We daren’t get out of our homes once the sun goes down.”
Namita Munda said many of the day-labourers of the community, who would work outside the village, have stopped working as well.
The villagers said they were still living in fear as the killers – all locally influential people – were yet to be arrested.
Police were deployed in the area after the killing, but only for two days.
The villagers also alleged the law enforcers are reluctant to arrest the culprits because “they are cousins of GM Shokar Ali, chairman of local Ishwaripur union parishad and the union Awami League president”.
Asked, Shokar Ali admitted the accused Rashidul and Ebadul were his relatives, but claimed he did not try to influence the law enforcers to delay their arrest.
Contacted, Ripon Mallick, sub-inspector of Shyamnagar Police Station and the case’s investigation officer, denied the allegations of deliberate delay and said they were trying to arrest the accused.
He also said police have been regularly patrolling the neighbourhood to ensure security.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Mohammad Humayun Kabir, deputy commissioner of Satkhira, said he would take all administrative measures to step up security for the Munda people and ensure their children’s attendance in school.
“Besides, measures would be taken to settle the land dispute.”