The Santals have held a protest march and rally in Gaibandha district town demanding the return of their ancestral land requisitioned in 1962 and justice for the murder of three Santals. Later, they submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police on the same demand. On Wednesday afternoon, the Sahebganj-Bagdafarm Bhoomi Baktakh Sangram Committee, Association for Land and Development (ALRD), and Adibashi-Bengali Sanghati Parishad jointly organized these programs.
The memorandum states that on November 6, 2016, when the then MP Abul Kalam Azad, MD and GM of Mahimaganj Sugar Mill, along with the local administration and police, went to evict the Santals, there were clashes with the Santals. In this, 30 Santals were injured. Among them, three Santals, Mangal Mardi, Ramesh Tudu and Shyamal Hembram, died. The houses of the Santals were burnt down in the arson.
Later, a school was built for the children in Joypurpara. But some identified Bengali land grabbers are plotting to take over the school grounds again. As a result, tension is being created. This is disrupting the security of Santal children and disrupting proper education. The memorandum demands an uninterrupted and peaceful life for the innocent Santal community.
Speakers at the rally demanded the return of 1,842.30 acres of ancestral land to the Santals in the Sahebganj-Bagdafarm area of Gobindaganj, and the arrest and trial of all the accused, including then MP Abul Kalam Azad and UP Chairman Shakil Akand Bulbul, involved in the arson, vandalism, looting of houses in Santal villages, and the murder of three Santals.
ZH
