Authorities carried out an eviction drive on Sunday in a Bengali Muslim-majority village in Assam’s Dhubri district, leaving about 550 families homeless. Most of those affected were Bengali Muslims.
More than 50 bulldozers were used to demolish homes and other structures built across about 650 bighas in Block 9 of Alamganj. The operation began at 6 a.m. under heavy police security.
About four thousand people from 550 families lived in the area. During the eviction, residents prayed at the Kamel Pir Sahabuddin Aulia shrine and protested against attempts to demolish it.
Dhubri district commissioner Dibakar Nath said work to clear about 650 bighas was nearly complete. He said the wider area covered about 800 bighas and contained about 800 families. Court cases involving about 160 applicants and roughly 150 bighas were pending.
He said the administration would file an affidavit in court and take the next steps according to Gauhati High Court directions. He described the operation as peaceful because of the extensive security measures.
According to the administration, about 80 percent of residents had left with their belongings before the eviction began. Residents had been given 15 days to clear the land after failing to produce required documents.
Authorities disconnected electricity to the homes several days before the eviction, forcing residents to leave. Some families remained in the hope of obtaining legal relief after challenging the eviction in court. The next hearing is scheduled for November 13.
An official told the media that a school, the shrine and other places of worship were not demolished during Sunday’s operation.
The drive is the latest in a series of evictions targeting settlements in Assam. About two weeks earlier, more than 1,100 Muslim families were evicted from forest land in a two-day operation in Nagaon, Hojai and Golaghat districts.
Human rights groups have warned that targeting Bengali Muslims by the state government could amount to racial discrimination.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report