<i>Where do they go now?</i>

Homestead of a physically and mentally challenged family grabbed in Panchagarh

4 October 2009, 17:00 PM

Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon

Photo: Star

A land grabber at Bordingpara village under Debiganj upazila in Panchagarh district has forced a hapless family to leave their ancestral land without fully paying the price of the land. Yanus Ali, 35, his wife Hazera Begum, 30, daughters Ofsin, and Yasmin, and son Hazirul, had been living in their six-decimal ancestral land in Bordingpara village. All of them except Ofsin are physically and mentally challenged. Their neighbour Tajul Islam, who eyed the land in the upazila town, cajoled Yanus to sell his three-decimal land for Tk 70 thousand per decimal, said locals and victim's relatives. Tajul gave Yanus Tk 50,000 and got registration of the three-decimal land several months ago saying that the remaining Tk 1,60,000 would be paid in a short time. But Tajul continued buying time on different pretexts. At one stage, Yanus's elder brother went to Tajul and asked him to give the amount to meet the expenses for wedding of his niece Ofsin, but Tajul told him that he had paid the total price of the land before registration. Tajul also asked him to vacate the land. After an inconclusive arbitration on last Monday, Tajul and his accomplices attacked Yanus and his family and forced them out of their house. They are now living in a neighbouring village. This correspondent tried to take Yanus' version about the incident, but the physically and mentally challenged man was unable to speak in communicable language. With the help of local NGO Disability Development Centre, Yanus filed a complaint to district superintendent of police (SP) the next day. SP Shaharier Rahman said he has ordered the officer-in-charge of Debiganj Police Station to investigate the matter and take legal action. As Tajul was not available, his son Zahedul said, “Yanus did not hand over the three-decimal land that we bought from him. So we took up the land.”