Remove illegal structures from 2 Madaripur temples
HC asks govt
The High Court yesterday directed the government to remove illegal structures from the temple premises in a village of Madaripur immediately to protect the religious place.
During hearing a rule, it ordered the deputy commissioner (DC) of the district to ensure that the people of Hindu community can perform prayers and religious festivals at Gopal Mandir (temple) and Kali Mandir at Palita village of Rajoir upazila without any hindrance.
The court also directed the DC and the superintendent of police to prosecute a Nirmal Kanti Halder of Palita under the criminal law for damaging the temples and cutting trees of their premises subject to investigation.
It said the DC has to investigate how the temples have been demised on a lease.
The HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim also ordered the DC to submit a report on compliance of the orders to it by February 12.
The bench on January 17 issued the suomoto rule directing Nirmal to appear before it yesterday to explain why his conduct over damaging the temples and possessing its adjacent land without paying any lease money.
The order came following a report published on the daily Janakantha on January 14 stating that “influential” Nirmal has been possessing government land for about 30 years without paying any lease money, and he has damaged the temples and cut trees from the land.
During the hearing, Nirmal Halder, who was kept in the dock of courtroom, admitted that he has been occupying the land since 1987 without any lease, but he applied for a lease to the DC office of Madaripur.
The court rebuked Nirmal, saying that “You are now 70-year old but you are still now so greedy to grab the government land and the temples.”
The justice told the Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) of Madaripur Syed Faruk Rahman in the court that they have illegally allowed Nirmal to occupy the government land, and there is a big conspiracy in this regard.
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