67-year-old man wants justice

From New Age
A 67-year man on Monday sought justice from International Crimes Tribunal against the detained Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami nayeb-e-amir Delwar Hossain Sayedee for abduction and rape of his three sisters in 1971.

The 13th prosecution witness, who had a grocery shop at Parerhat in Pirojpur in 1971, broke down in tears while making his deposition before the tribunal, also known as war crimes tribunal, instiuted for trial of war

crimes committed during the 1971 war of independence.

‘I have been bearing the pain in my heart for the last 40 years seeking justice,’ he said.

In his deposition, the witness said Sayedee, along with his Razakar Bahini, attacked and robbed his house on a day in 1971 and abducted his three younger sisters.

Sayedee and the attackers handed the three sisters over to the Pakistani occupation army camp in Pirojpur, where they were raped for three days.

The three sisters came back home after three days, when they were freed from the army camp, and described to their mother the molestation they had to face at the camp of the occupation army.

The tribunal asked all, who were in the courtroom, not to disclose the identity of the victims.

The man, belonging to Hindu community, also stated that Sayedee had forced all the members of his family, along with about 100-150 Hindus of the locality, including Narayan Saha, Nikhil Paul, Sunil Paul, Haran Bhowmick and Gouranga Paul, to be converted into Islam and to say prayers at mosque.

Sayedee had named the man ‘Abdul Gani’ after converting him into Islam.

The man said he was reconverted into Hinduism after the independence of the country.

He also mentioned that all of his family but himself went to India to escape the shame and never came back. His father and mother had died in India.

Some of the Hindus, who were forced to be converted into Islam by Sayedee, had died and some of them went to India.

In the cross-examination by Sayedee’s defence counsel Mizanul Islam, the witness said the Razakars had robbed his shop along with other shops and houses of Hindus at Parerhat before the Pakistani occupation army reached there.

In reply to the defence counsel’s queries, the witness said he knew the 12 prosecution witnesses who had made their depositions before the tribunal in the case.

He said he could not recollect whether he had seen them during the war of independence, as most of the people, including him, had to remain in hiding most of the times in those days.

He also said that he could not say whether those prosecution witnesses, excepting Mahbub Alam, knew about the abduction and rape of his sisters.

He, however, said that Mahbub might come to know about the incident.