On Monday, the Gaibandha SP came to the court as per its previous order but the court remained closed to mourn the deaths of two judges of the High Court division and the Appellate Division.
The High Court bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Krishna Debnath fixed the new date after Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Saju informed the matter to them yesterday.
Motahar Hossain said: “The Gaibandha SP came to the court that day to appear before the registrar's office but the court was on vacation. Later, in a written statement, he requested to inform the court about his presence. So today, we informed the court about the matter.”
On December 12 last year, Gaibandha Deputy Commissioner (DC) Abdus Samad apologised unconditionally to the High Court for using “derogatory words” in his report regarding the attack on Santals. The court exempted him issuing a warning.
The DC in his report, submitted on November 30, wrote that “Bangali dushkritikari” (Bangali miscreants) and Santals locked in a clash with Rangpur Sugar Mill workers.
The High Court then asked the DC for an explanation for the use of the word as Pakistan occupation forces used such words to describe the Bangali people.
The DC explained that he picked up the word from the report submitted by Gaibandha SP. The court then had asked the SP to appear on January 2 to explain his choice of words.
On November 6 and 7 last year, the upazila administration evicted around 600 Santal households from their ancestral land in Sahebganj-Bagda sugarcane farm area.
Three Santal men died and many more were injured when they protested the eviction. The eviction was carried out by police, RAB and BGB members and assisted by local people allegedly loyal to the ruling Awami League lawmaker of the area.
Following the incident, three rights organisations filed three separate writ petitions with the High Court which initiated the proceedings.
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