Free Lajja by Taslima Nasrin Page A

Robindronath Ghosh, a student of Class III, was raped by a schoolteacher. The incident took place on 16 May 1979. Chhonda was sleeping in the veranda with the others in her family. In the dark night, her teacher, Nochhimuddin, along with some other men, took Chhonda away by force. They took her to a garden nearby and raped her. A bleeding, unconscious Chhonda was found the next day and taken to Satkhira hospital. A case was lodged at Tala police station but no one was arrested.
    In Gohala village in Muksudpur sub-district of Gopalganj, Ujjola Rani was raped by five men who had usurped her father’s property. Ujjola Rani’s guardians went to inform the Muksudpur police but they did not register the complaint.
    In Jhalkathi, Nolchhiti, Sorupkathi, Banaripara, Agoiljhora, Ujirpur, Najirpur and Gournodi of Borishal district, people from the minority community were tortured on the pretext that members of the Sorbohara Party were being arrested. They were arrested and then let go in exchange for a bribe. Many Hindus of those areas were on the run because they feared police violence. Kashinath Halder of the sub-district of Agoiljhora was a victim of police violence and is almost dead.
    In Nowtana village of Digha Union in the Najirpur sub-district of Pirojpur, Keshob Sadhu had heart failure because he saw his only son being severely beaten up on a false charge of being associated with the Sorbohara Party.
    In Chormodhua village of Chormodhua Union in the Raipur sub-district of Norsinghdi , seventy-odd people led by Shahabuddin and Alauddin attacked the Hindu community in Sutrodhorpara, and looted and plundered their houses. Consequently, about a hundred and fifty people belonging to twenty families fled the village and became refugees.
    On 16 May, in Jahangirpur village in the Modon sub-district of Netrokona, a fundamentalist group attacked the house of Binoy Baishya, a minority leader. They locked up people from Binoy babu’s family for thirty-six hours and ravaged everything. When the police station was informed, the police came and arrested Binoy babu’s sons! Of course, they were released later.
    On 10 December, in Durgapur village of Chandpur Union of Bakerganj, about a hundred people led by the UP member Ghulam Hussain Pintu attacked the house of Rajendro Chondro Das. They ransacked the place, assaulted everyone in the house and finally set fire to it. When Rajendro Chondro made a complaint at the local police station, the attackers set fire to the house once again and threatened to kill the family. A case was registered in the sub-district but the police remained silent.
    Some people forcibly occupied and are enjoying the property of Dinesh Chondro Das in Mirwarishpur village in the Begunganj sub-district of Noakhali.
    Suronjon could not sleep. He had worked for two years with Ekata magazine. This was 1988–89. As a reporter, he went to all parts of the country. His bag was full of news of such kinds of torture. Some stories would be published, some did not get to print.
    ‘Suronjon, you must understand,’ said his editor, ‘that this is oppression of the powerless by the powerful. The tyranny of the rich on the poor. If you are rich, it doesn’t matter whether you are Hindu or Muslim, that is how a capitalist society works. Take a look, poverty-stricken Muslims are in a similar situation. The rich, be they Hindu or Muslim, are subjugating the poor.’

Part Three

One
    Winter seemed to lack bite. Suronjon pushed aside his quilt. Daylight had broken quite a while ago. However, he did not feel like getting out of bed. He had roamed around the city all night. He had not felt like visiting anyone or talking to anybody. He had walked alone. He’d thought of his parents at home and worried about all that was going on, but he hadn’t felt like going home. He felt scared every time he saw Kironmoyee’s pale, frightened face. And Sudhamoy’s expressionless stare. Suronjon wanted to sit somewhere and get drunk. He wanted