Author: Babul Sarkar
Publication: A Bengali Daily
Date: June 8, 2003
Recently married Sabita Halder,
(a young minority woman) was visiting her family home in the rural village
of Bahurbunia in Morelganj in Bagerhat district. She was there with husband,
Pijush, and their six-month-old son Pintu. That's when the terror struck
Her young life was cut short by a group of brutal gang rapists and murderers.
Husband Pijush is now traumatized
and gravely ill. Baby Pintu lies in near comatose. The baby cried out loud
once whilst his mother was gang raped. The savages picked him up and threw
him down on the hard floor- he is now in a critical condition. The child
and the husband were two witnesses to the acts of ultimate violence and
slaughter by a large group of messengers from hell who descended upon Sabita
in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Pijush faced further threats - after
the incident- from this notorious gang of men. As a result he could not
complete the last rites due to the dead woman. He opted to return home-
guarding his baby son close to his chest- making the perilous journey back
home before the sunset on Thursday. Subsequently he remained terrified.
On Saturday he filed a G.D. with the local Zianagar police station .on
the gang rape and murder of his wife. Therein he also noted that those
responsible (for the heinous crime) could strike again because of his G.D.
Author of this report
first went to Bahurbunia (in Morelganj) on Friday looking for the murdered
woman's husband and son. And as he could not find them there, he started
making inquiries and then took a long and difficult journey across waterways
and muddy terrain of over 45 km before he eventually reached Ramchandrapur
in Zianagar. This small village within Ferozepur district has a large concentration
of minority families. Soon after he arrived at the Halder family house
adjacent to the local Hindu temple, hundreds of villagers of all ages begun
to assemble there. He noticed a half naked slim young man lying on the
ground floor balcony of the family house. Next to him laid a tiny child-
pale and semi-conscious. He realized later that these were the husband
and son of Sabita Halder.
Locals carried Pijush and
then made him sit down on a small bench in the court yard of their family
home. For quite a while-.as he was being asked questions, no responses
were heard- save his blank stares. Once when his son Pintu was put on his
lap, he broke down into tears. After some time when his tears subsided
a little, many of the details of the horror started to emerge from his
talks. The husband, wife and the child- three of them of were lying down
on the back balcony of Sabita's parental home. No one else was there in
the room in front of the back balcony. It was after midnight Wednesday,
and in the early hours of Thursday morning around 2/2.30 am. A group of
12 to 14 armed men (wearing masks) entered the house by breaking open the
front door. As a safety measure- that door was surrounded on its outside
with rings of some metal pipes.
They started looking for
Litton Sadial, Sabita's younger brother whilst loudly hurling profanities
around the place. Then they started beating him and swearing at him- asking
insulting questions to him as to why he hadn't done this or done that instead
of staying at the house perhaps, to build up a legal case against them,
and, so on. Then they started looting any valuables inside the house, and
pushed him along to the back balcony holding a gun onto his head. Once
they saw Sabita there, they ripped parts of her outer clothing and used
it to tie him up to a pillar supporting the house.
Sabita, who was holding on to her
son, was then picked up and thrown on the bed Two men in the group held
her down (spread eagle) on the bed- one pressing down her hands
and the other man pressing down her legs The rest of the gang then preyed
upon her by after tying a piece of around her mouth. At one point whilst
this terror was going on- the baby cried out loud. They picked him up and
hurled him on to the hard floor to stop the noise until he fell unconscious.
Pijush could hear his wife's groaning at times. Later on there was a huge
scream that was followed by a deafening silence.
Pijush broke down again as
he said that at one point he had also heard some of these men went out
of the house and called out the names of "Saiddul" and "Razzak".
He thought then the savage torture and serial rapes of Sabita was still
going on. Those called also left after that. As he was trying to break
free and was desperate to move away, he fell down into the ground below.
And started to yell. On hearing him. two neighbours rushed towards him
along with his brother in law. More people came later.
After listening to him,
the Halder family home seemed like a suffocating place as so many people
present there were breathing in such a confined area. Several of the minority
women and men present (Kamola, Sandhya, Gouranga, Subodh, Maloti, Molina,
Sikha, Luna, Gita, Arati, Madhavi and others) demanded that these barbaric
criminals should be hanged. Pijush pointed out at his ailing son and asked,
"How am I going to save him..?" When the learnt that so far the police
have not been able to catch and detain these murderers, they panicked.
They thought those men could also unleash their terror in the village where
they now live.
Incident of this heinous crime was
reported in detail by Pijush in a G.D. filed at the Zianagar police
station Besides describing the serial gang rape on and slaughter of his
wife Sabita, he has alerted the police that he was fearful
that those mafia-like fanatics could trail him and strike him (and the
baby) down at his own home (and silence him) in his own village.
Meanwhile, the Saturday issue of
the daily Janakantha carried a public appeal for an investigation
of this savage gang rape and murder of Sabita Halder in Bahurbunia in Morelganj.
The publication of this appeal caused quite a stir amongst the readers
all around the country. All copies were sold out within two to three hours
of delivery people hitting the streets. As of now, the photocopies of the
same were circulated around the villages. And following the Janakantha
appeal, both Bagerhat District Magistrate, and the Chief of Police rushed
into the scene of the gang rape and murder of Sabita Halder. Faxed reports
on behalf of the District Magistrate were also sent to the Cabinet Division
and the Home Office.
District Magistrate, Pious Costa,
stated that further steps will follow to discuss and check whether the
whole incident was adequately documented or not. His message was clear-
no matter how powerful and influential these criminals are- they would
be brought to justice. Morelganj's Deputy Police Superintendent Abdul Baten
announced that forces were going to ready for quickly apprehending and
detaining those responsible for committing this crime.
