A family in Nasirnagar, Brahmanbaria, has alleged that, amid a land dispute, neighbors fenced off the only access path to their home. Members of the family say they have been confined for two weeks as a result, with their toilet and tube well now outside the fence.
The incident occurred in the Karmakarpara area of the upazila’s Haripur union. The affected family alleges that on Aug. 9, members of neighbor Rafiq Mia’s family put up a bamboo fence in front of their door and across the path through their yard, blocking their movement. They say a toilet was demolished and the tube well covered with tin sheets and garbage.
Local sources said Montu Karmakar, a resident of Karmakarpara, bought 6.33 decimals of land under old plot No. 1897 from his cousin Uttam Roy in 2003 through a bainanama (agreement to sell) deed. A deed for the purchase was executed on Dec. 23, 2014, through deed writer and former union parishad member Ashikur Rahman, with Uttam Roy signing it. Montu claims he paid 356,000 taka for the land. However, since Uttam left before the deed could be submitted to the sub-registrar’s office, it was never registered.
Uttam later sold the same land to Rafiq Mia, an expatriate worker in Saudi Arabia, in 2017. After learning of this, Montu filed two separate cases in court over the past year. The dispute between the two sides has intensified since then.
Taus Mia, a local resident, said Montu had bought the land first, and Uttam later sold the same land to Rafiq. Another resident, Sujon Pathan, said the matter had gone through arbitration multiple times, but since neither side was willing to compromise, it remained unresolved.
Members of Montu’s family said that on Aug. 9, their house was locked from outside and they were forced out. Though they were later able to return home with police assistance, the fence was not removed. A roughly 20-foot bamboo fence has been erected in front of their door, and a roughly 25-foot fence blocks the path out of the yard.
Suborna Karmakar, a member of Montu’s family, said there is no way to use the toilet during the day, forcing them to go to the nearby pond at night. She said they also have to carry pitchers to neighbors’ homes daily for drinking water.
Montu Karmakar told this newspaper, “Although Uttam signed the deed, it was never registered. I filed a case in court based on that unregistered deed. Now Rafiq Mia’s people have fenced in our house. We’ve even been threatened with murder if we pursue the case or cause trouble. My family and I are living in fear for our safety.”
Rafiq Mia’s wife, Janahara Begum, denied the allegations, saying they had put up the fence on their own land, and that the claim they fenced off Montu’s land was untrue. She also denied the allegation of threatening murder if a case or trouble was made of the matter.
Uttam Roy, the land’s previous owner, said Montu had fraudulently obtained his signature on the deed, which is why he sold the land to Rafiq instead. He claimed all of Montu’s allegations were false and fabricated.
Haripur Union Parishad Chairman Faruk Mia told this newspaper he had heard that Montu Karmakar bought the land from Uttam Roy, and that Montu has a deed or agreement for it. He said he had also heard that Rafiq later bought the same land, and that he would call both sides to try to resolve the matter.
Monir Hossain, sub-inspector at Nasirnagar police station and beat officer for Haripur union, said that although the land was bought from Uttam, the deed was never registered. Following Montu’s written complaint, police went to the house and removed part of the bamboo-and-tin fence. Both sides were offered the chance to settle the dispute at the police station, but neither came.