Justice eludes victims of hate attacks over Facebook posts

by Ashif Islam Shaon in Dhaka Tribune, Nov 15,2017
There have been several major attacks on the religious minorities across Bangladesh in the last five years over Facebook posts defaming Islam and Prophet Muhammad.
In all cases, the attackers ransacked and burned houses belonging to the minority communities. Places of worships were also not spared.
But lengthy investigation and trial proceedings meant that none of those responsible for the attacks had been punished.
Residents of Thakurpara, a village in Rangpur, are the latest victims of such an attack.
Thousands of villagers from nearby localities banded together and launched an unprovoked attack on the Hindu village on November 10, looting and torching at least 30 houses.
When police intervened, the attackers clashed with the law enforcers too, leaving one dead and about 20 others injured.
Police have so far arrested 124 suspects over the attack and clash. Police said they were analysing footage of the attack and would arrest others involved in the incident.
The incident was triggered by rumours that a Hindu youth’s Facebook post had defamed Prophet Muhammad. Titu Roy, the youth in question, is illiterate, according to his family members.
Rangpur Superintendent of Police Mizanur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that they were yet to come to any conclusion about the Facebook ID that was used for spreading the controversial post.
He claimed that the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and its student front might be behind the Thakurpara communal attack. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Tuesday said Titu had been detained.
Similar attacks
In September 2012, religious fanatics ransacked, and set on fire houses and temples belonging to the Buddhist community in Ramu and Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar in one of the worst attacks on minorities that appeared to have been triggered by a Facebook post, allegedly defaming Quran.
A year later, unidentified miscreants attacked, ransacked and torched more than 50 houses, businesses and temples in Pabna.
They spread rumors that Rajib Shaha, a Hindu youth from Bonogram’s Sahapara, had slandered Prophet Muhammad on Facebook.
In October last year, a mob attacked Hindus in Brahmanbaria’s Nasirnagar.
More than 100 people were injured when the mob attacked and vandalised 17 temples and 58 houses.
This attack, too, was reportedly triggered by a Facebook post defaming Islam, allegedly posted from the account of an illiterate Hindu fisherman.
The houses of Nasirnagar Upazila Parishad Vice-Chairman Anjan Deb and another Hindu fisherman were attacked several later. Six more Hindu houses were set afire in the upazila.
Long walk to justice
Many cases have been filed over the communal attacks but none of them have been resolved yet.
Nineteen cases, for example, were filed over the 2012 attack and one was withdrawn later. The remaining cases are still being heard by the local court.
Jyotirmoy Barua, a lawyer from Ramu, had filed a writ petition against the inaction of police in the incident.
He said the court had ordered further investigation into some of the cases where it was not satisfied with police probe. The court is recording testimonies of witnesses in some other cases but the witnesses fear for their safety.
Jyotirmoy said the accused were well-known faces in the locality and they were either out on bail or were not listed in the chargesheet.
In December 2012, the High Court ordered a judicial investigation into the incident after a Home Ministry probe failed to identify the motive behind the attacks.
“Names of witnesses were leaked from the judicial inquiry report that resulted in the witnesses being threatened [by the accused],” he said.
Initially, there were about 15,000 accused in the cases but later charges were pressed against 384 persons in court.
Eight cases were filed over last year’s Nasirnagar attacks. Police said they were yet to file chargesheet in the cases.
In November that year, a police investigation report submitted to its headquarters said a number of people took advantage of the factional conflict within district and upazila level units of Awami League to stoke communal hatred.
A senior official of the district’s police said they hoped to submit the chargesheet in December.
One case was filed over the attack on Hindu temples, businesses and houses in Pabna in 2013.
Police said their investigation did not find evidence that a Hindu youth had slandered Prophet Muhammad on Facebook.
Pabna police chief Jihadul Kabir said that the case was being heard by a district court.
Meanwhile, two cases have been filed over the November 10 attack on Hindu houses and clash with police. Titu Roy, whose alleged Facebook post is said to have triggered the attack, has been accused in a case under Section 57. http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2017/11/15/justice-eludes-victims-hate-attacks-facebook-posts/