An allegation has been made that a widow’s home was set on fire in Mirsarai, Chattogram, amid a long-running property dispute.
The incident happened at around 2am on the night of Friday (September 18) at Mahajan Bari in the Mithachhara area of ward 8 in ward 9 Mirsarai union of the upazila.
The house was completely burnt in the fire. With it, Pronoti Rani Das, 68, who was living on her husband’s homestead, lost the last shelter she had.
Pronoti Rani Das said she had made a written complaint at Mirsarai police station on September 14 over an earlier incident in which trees she had planted were cut down and taken away, arising from the same property dispute.
Eight days had passed since the complaint was made without police visiting the scene to investigate, she said. The fire at her home happened in the meantime.
Pronoti Rani said her husband, Amarendra Das Roy, also known as Dulal, died in 2015. Since then she has lived on her husband’s homestead with her three daughters. They have long been in possession of the scheduled land held in her husband’s name. A dispute has been running with neighbours over that land.
In the complaint made to the police station over the cutting of the trees, Pronoti Rani named Choton Karmakar, 37, Md Sohel, Azim Uddin and Azad Hossain. She alleged that they had cut down and taken away the trees as a group.
Pronoti Rani said: “There have been repeated attempts to settle the property dispute. The court has given its ruling as well. But they are not accepting it. I got no remedy even after complaining to the police station over the cutting of the trees. Now my house has been set alight and burnt down in the dark of night. All this is being done to evict me and take possession of the land.”
She added that she believes the incident is connected to the earlier cutting of the trees.
Gazi Nizam Uddin, a former member secretary of Mirsarai upazila BNP, said a meeting of the two sides had been arranged for September 19 to settle the dispute.
He said one representative from each side, along with a representative of his own, were to review the documents and give a decision. Pronoti Rani attended the meeting, he said, but the other side did not.
Gazi Nizam Uddin said: “Pronoti Rani’s house has been burnt down. I have advised her to take recourse to the law.”
Responding to the allegation, Choton Karmakar said: “I did not know about today’s meeting. The property dispute is between Pronoti Rani Das and Sumon. I became involved in settling the dispute because of my relationship with Sumon. Now I am being made a defendant and accused.”
Mirsarai police station’s officer-in-charge, Farida Yasmin, said she had not yet received any complaint about the house being set on fire. She was also unable to give details immediately about the September 14 complaint over the cutting of trees. Police would be sent to the scene quickly to investigate, she said, and the matter would be made known after the investigation.