Harrowing tales of depravity
Stories of Shefali and Joyonti
Star investigation,Star Roving Team
About 10 years ago, mother of two Shefali Rani Das, about 36 now, of Annada Prashad village in Lord Hardinge Union of Lalmohon upazila under Bhola district, slipped and broke her left leg while fetching water from the village pond. Five months later, her entire leg was amputated. Since then, Shefali's world was confined to a set of homemade wooden crutches. Her husband Shuvash Chandra Das, a landless peasant of the village, struggled hard to run the family. On October 2, Shefali found her neighbours fleeing their homes as scores of hoodlums started attacking the Hindu community of the area. She immediately decided to send her 15-year-old daughter to another village. Her husband and 21-year-old son had already fled the village.
In the afternoon on the day, Shefali knew she had to move out of her home. Her neighbourhood was almost deserted. She feared for her safety. It was raining and she struggled on the muddy path to reach the main road near Bentor Bari, a cluster of houses in the middle of paddy fields, where many of her friends had already taken refuge. She gave up hope of reaching Bentor Bari through waist deep water. Helpless, Shefali went to Ganga's house by the road nearby.
At night, she heard screams and saw that most of the inmates were running away from the house. Shefali grabbed her crutches and struggled out of the house. By then, all others in Ganga's house had disappeared in the paddy fields.
Shefali could not go far. She limped along Ganga's family pond and reached the small area where turmeric (holud) is cultivated. A gang of about 15 men was returning the same way with bundles of looted goods. They caught her. All Shefali remembered was that after two men took her nakphool (nose ring) away (this is how the village women describe being raped), she walked on her crutches.
Shefali was then unconscious for four days. On October 31, when this correspondent arrived at Annada Prashad, womenfolk there talked about a comatose Shefali and said she was admitted to Char Fasson State Hospital.
Next day at Char Fasson, this correspondent learnt that Shefali was released from the hospital after nine days and was staying with a relative somewhere in the vicinity of Char Fasson.
A source in Char Fasson agreed to help us find Shefali's whereabouts, but on condition of anonymity. In the evening, the source returned with the news that Shefali was under the care of a relative at village Dashkandi in Jinnaghar Union of Char Fasson, about 10 kilometres away.
At around 8 PM, the source agreed to show us the way to Dashkandi, but he insisted that in no way his identity could be revealed. From a safe distance, he led The Daily Star team of four on two motorbikes to a small place by the metalled road. The team then had to take an earthen road on its own amid paddy fields and thick vegetation towards Dashkandi. The source had then vanished.
After about five kilometres on the treacherous road, the team arrived at Dashkandi. Half a dozen young men equipped with battery operated torches kept vigil in the village. They said there was tension in the area but the local BNP leader had been very sympathetic to the Hindu community there.
A shy Shefali appeared on her crutches amid a small crowd of men, women and children. Nearby, a maulana (Islamic scholar) was delivering a speech on a loud speaker on the occasion of Shab-e-Barat. "I do not remember what happened to me later, I remember all my body ached terribly, I could not move my hands after those men grabbed me in the turmeric field, I remember two men taking away my nakphool (nose ring)," she said, looking down. Shefali did not know where to go from her relative's house in Dashkandi. She said she would wait for her husband to decide about that.
The following morning, the night guard of the Dak Bungalow, where The Daily Star team was staying, said that about 15 masked men had come looking for members of the Star team. They left the place warning that the team should not look for any other victims belonging to the minority community.
Dr Shahidul Islam at Char Fasson Hospital said that the country's existing laws help rapists rather than victims. The victim of rape has to prove that she was raped. This is difficult without any eyewitness. This helps the rapists, in most cases, go free.
"Shefali was hospitalised with multiple injuries, including human bites, over various parts of her body, unable to move her right hand. She could not talk or eat for about a week and she was traumatised," Islam said looking at the official report of the hospital.
When asked if she was tested for rape, Islam cited the law. He said as per the law of the land, the attending doctor cannot test a patient till there was a specific complaint, lodged through proper channels of the administrative set up. "In Shefali's case, she was unconscious when she was brought to the hospital by a villager," he said.
"We need a demand from either the police or the court of justice or a formal complaint from the victim or her relative to carry out a test to determine if the person was raped or not. Then just before the test, she must be identified by a police official of the respective thana," Islam continued. "Then the test must be carried out in daylight and in the presence of a responsible female member of the society or a female nurse."
So Shefali was never tested for rape, and as such there is, till date, no charge of rape against her assailants. In fact there is no charge of any sort against the perpetrators, he said.
Story of Joyonti
Joyonti, 18, wife of Shuvash Majhi, a carpenter by profession, was in labour pain inside her hut at Jahajmara village in Gazaria under No.7 West Char Umed Union of Lalmohon upazila in the afternoon of October 2. Suddenly, all her neighbours started to flee the village as about 60 young men, armed with machetes, sticks and knives arrived from the Gazaria market area and went on a rampage, shouting "dirty" slogans. In acute pain to deliver her first baby, Joyonti was aided by a village midwife and her mother-in-law Mukti Rani.
"I could hear those men shouting and breaking open our neighbours' doors, but three of us were helpless because Joyonti was having labour pain and the birth of her baby was imminent," said Mukti Rani.
As the mob neared Joyonti's house, situated at the far end of the village, the midwife became terrified and refused to stay any longer. As the attackers came nearer, the midwife left Joyonti and ran away from the house. " As I cried and cried and held Joyonti tight, the men entered our kitchen and started slashing our bamboo wall with machetes," Mukti Rani continued.
By then, the baby boy was born. Mukti said she wrapped it with her saree. Not bothering to detach the umbilical cord, Mukti broke open the bamboo fence in the corner of the room and dragged Joyonti through it and ran toward the paddy field nearby.
"Joyonti could not run as she was in pain, but I pushed her hard through the filed, holding the baby in one hand till we reached a higher ground," Mukti said in tears.
It was there that the family found a razor blade to detach the cord. Joyonti said they waited under a tree till nine p.m. and then returned home after some neighbours told them that the attackers had gone. The new born boy was named Sangram, the Bangla word for struggle.
Almost all Hindu houses in Jahajmara village was looted during the October 2 onslaught. Exactly one month after the incident, all the houses bore clear evidence of destruction. Hindu temples were found ransacked or totally destroyed. The remaining inmates were terrified. Many women said that a number of families had already left for Dhaka and other places. "After the attacks, there were newspaper reports and the government sent some officials to investigate, but the investigators were not shown these houses or temples," said a young man at the house of Modhu Lal Biswas.
Elderly men and Women said that although there was no renewed attacks on their community since October 2, the same perpetrators along with others have "formed a committee" to raise protection money from every Hindu family in the area.
"The committee has just collected Tk 60,000 from the village and handed it over to the same people," said an elderly man. The villagers cited several names and alleged that Jahangir Matbor of Elishakandi area masterminded the entire episode.
In the middle of Jahajmara village is the house of Dr Ram Krishna Majumdar. His wife Alo Rani was picking through the rubbles when this correspondent arrived. She said her husband and children were away and she had returned home the day before after being away since the day of the attack. The house was in ruins. Furniture, cupboards, beds, idols of Hindu goddess and all other tings were destroyed or looted. The walls of the house made of corrugated tin were slashed into pieces with sharp weapons.
The small crowd of Hindu men and women there said Majumdar was a very popular doctor, running his practice from a small medicine shop he owned at Gazaria Bazaar. He was never affiliated with any political party nor he ever expressed views about any party. But on the day of the attack, the perpetrators were looking for him. They systematically destroyed and looted all his belongings, which included medicine worth more than Tk one lakh. Alo Rani, looking extremely worried and at a loss, said if the attackers would find her husband, they would have killed him straightaway. Local people said Majumdar's good academic background and his more-than-average income in the village became an eyesore to the vested group.
They said that after Majumdar had fled, the gangs occupied his medicine shop, removed all furniture and put up a signboard, which read, " Durjoy Khelaghar." Ironically some local people said BNP activists and a group of Awami League activists have united to run Durjoy Khelaghar as a club.
"Yesterday, they openly sold several sacks of red chillies, which the doctor had stored in his shop," said a school teacher.
The villagers said that Mamun, Shaheen, Kabir, Jamal, Mosharraf, Kuddus, Jewel and Shohag were now running the club, which earlier was Majumdar's medicine shop.
Everywhere in the village, Hindu families were in extreme fear. As this correspondent walked towards the main road, Hindu labourers working in the fields came forward to tell him stories of how uncertain they were about their future. They said they would avail the earliest opportunity to leave their village. Many of them failed to say where they would go.
Source: The Daily Start, Nov 10, 2001