By Hasan Akram
The family of late Moinul Haque, one of the two persons killed in the 23 September violence in Assam’s Darang district, has said that Haque picked up a stick to ”save his life” from policemen.
”He picked up a stick to save his life as the police had gherao’ed him from all sides,” Haque’s younger brother Ainul Haque said while speaking to Muslim Mirror.
The police on 23 September used batons and opened fire at people opposing the state government’s eviction drive in villages of Dhalpur 1 and 3 inside Assam’s Darrang district. In a 30-second video clip, the policemen were seen firing at unarmed men.
In the video clip, Haque was seen coming towards some policemen with a stick before being shot dead. He was continuously beaten by the police even after he fell and his body was stomped on by a cameraman -Bijoy Bania- hired by the district administration.
Maqbool Ali, father of 33 year old Moinul Haque, saw the viral video of his son, late at night. “When I heard the photographer was arrested, I was a little relieved but the pain will not go away,” he said while speaking to TRT World.
Before the 23 September violence, authorities had already demolished houses of around 800 families and forced them to live under the open sky. Expressing his anger over the eviction drive, Ali said. ”I’ve lost everything. How will poor people like us survive? Is this happening because we’re Muslims? Even our mosques and Qurans were not spared,”
Ali added that the police set fire to a table in which he had kept Rs 26,000 and 800 kilograms of jute stored inside his house.
Following the police action, the Assam government-led by Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party faced heavy criticism and drew allegations of human rights violations. Later, it ordered a probe into the violence.
However, residents of Dhalpur 1 and 3 claim that the government has extended no help. It has not offered any compensation to the families of the men who died in the police action nor has it come up with any rehabilitation plan.
Moinul Haque’s friend who is also named Moinul Haque told Muslim Mirror the families who lost their houses in the eviction drive are currently living in tents and NGOs are providing food along with other necessities to them.
He added all of them are Indian citizens and they are part of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issued by the Indian government in 2019.
The account details of Haque’s wife is being shared below. Readers are requested to extend monetary help to the grieved family.
Name: Mrs Mamataj Begum
Account Number: 31594961364
IFSC: SBIN0012977
Account type: Savings Bank Account
CIF Number: 85957232012
State Bank of India, Mangaldoi Bazar