Unable to manage water to irrigate their land in the village Nimghatu of Godagari upazila, Rajshahi, Santal farmer Abhinath Marandi poisoned himself. Earlier his cousin Rabi Marandi killed himself in the same manner. Abhinath Marandi died on Friday night at 8:00pm while undergoing treatment at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. The two cousins drank poison on Thursday night, failing to irrigate their paddy field. A pall of gloom has spread around the village following their death.
On Friday night Abhinath Marandi’s wife Rozina Hemron filed a case against deep tubewell operator Sakhawat Hossain with Godagari police station, accusing him of inciting suicide. The police took Rozina’s signature on a blank piece of paper and filed an unnatural death case.
Earlier in the afternoon Rozina had learnt that no charges were being brought about against the Barendra Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) deep tubewell operator in connection with her husband’s death. She went to the Godagari police station where the police made her wait inordinately. Later the convener of the parliamentary caucus for indigenous affairs and Bangladesh Workers Party general secretary Fazle Hossain Badshah went to the police station and assured Rozina Hemron of support. After that the police accepted her case.
MP Fazle Hossain Badshah alleged that the ethnic minority groups were discriminated against when it came to supplying water. Such oppression existed in the entire Godagari and Tanore area. He demanded that the government and the human rights commission carry out a high level inquiry into the matter.
Farmers of the village Nimghatu take water from the deep tubewell at Iswarpur in Godagari upazila to irrigate their land. The deep tubewell operator is the local ward Krishak League president Sakhawat Hossain. Though the case has been filed against him, Police have failed to arrest Sakhawat as of Saturday afternoon.
When asked about the matter, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Godagari police station Kamrul Islam said that a case regarding unnatural death has no contradiction with a case for inciting suicide. He said that the accused Sakhawat couldn’t be found.
