Dinajpur, Patuakhali
Clashes over paddy harvest from disputed lands kill 3
Clashes over harvest of paddy from disputed lands left three people dead and at least 18 others injured in Dinajpur and Patuakhali yesterday and the day before.
In Dinajpur, two people were killed and eight others wounded during a clash between two groups of people over harvest of paddy from a disputed land at Dhananjoypur village in Bochaganj upazila in the morning, reports our correspondent.
The dead are Shahidul Islam 40, son of Shafiuddin of Dhananjoypur village, and Polu Soren, 38, son of late Josph Soren of Dakkhin Rongaon in the upazila.
Police quoted locals as saying that Mannan Mohri of Shadamohal village and his hired goons went to Dhananjoypur village at around 11.00am to cut Aman paddy on seven acres of land.
Hearing the news, several hundred ethnic people of the village, equipped with spears and bamboo sticks, rushed to the spot.
As they tried to prevent Mannan and his men from harvesting paddy, claiming that the land belongs to them, the hired goons at the instruction of Mannan swooped on the ethnic people, prompting them to retaliate.
Shahidul died as a spear used by the ethnic people pierced through his body while Polu Soren was hacked to death by Mannan's men during the clash that continued for at least 40 minutes, police said.
The injured were admitted to Bochaganj Upazila Health Complex. Of them, one was shifted to Dinajpur Medical College and Hospital in the afternoon as his condition deteriorated.
Pranotos Kumar, chairman of Rangaon Union Parishad, said he recently imposed a ban on harvesting paddy from the land until the ownership of the land was settled. But Mannan went to the land, defying the restriction, the chairman alleged.
Though Mannan claimed that he purchased the land from some ethnic people of the village, he could not produce any papers relating to his claim at an arbitration held at the UP office recently, the chairman said.
According to land record, the land belongs to the ethnic people of the village, he further said.
Our Patuakhali correspondent reported that a farmer was killed at least 10 others were injured in a clash over harvest of paddy from a disputed land at Golkali village in Dashmina upazila of the district on Saturday.
The dead was identified as Ruhul Amin, 45, son of Kanchon Ali of the village.
Police quoting local people said Ruhul Amin cultivated Aman on 2.50 acres of land. As he and his men started harvesting paddy from the land at around 10:00am, Hanif Howlader of the village along with his men went there and asked Ruhul not to cut paddy from the land as it belongs to him.
Ruhul refused to accept the claim and locked in an altercation with Hanif over the ownership of the land.
At one stage, the rival groups attacked each other, leaving at least 10 people from both sides, including Ruhul, injured.
The injured were admitted to Dashmina Upazila Health Complex. As Ruhul's condition deteriorated, he was shifted to Barisal Medical College and Hospital where he died at night.
Nurul Haque, brother of Ruhul Amin, filed a case with Dashmina police station yesterday morning, accusing 11 people. Police arrested three of the accused--Hanif Howlader, Mahtab Howlader and Abul Kashem--soon after filing of the case.
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