A Muslim man has died of cold as he slept under open sky for two days after being evicted by the government in Assam.
For two consecutive nights, Boyat Ali endured the biting cold of winter while sleeping under the open sky in Panchratna NC, a riverine village situated in Assam’s Goalpara district, over 150 km away from the state capital, reported Maktoob media.
On January 10, Ali and his family, along with 130 other families, were forcibly evicted from Panchratna N.C and Panchratna as part of an operation conducted by the Forest Department. The eviction drive aimed to clear the Panchratna reserve forest of what the forest authority termed “illegal encroachment.”
Tragically, just two days after the eviction, on January 13, Ali, a Muslim of East Bengal descent, was found dead in his poorly constructed tarpaulin shanty, reportedly succumbing to the severe cold.
His family members assert that Ali’s death was a direct consequence of the eviction, branding it a state-led murder.
Ali, aged fifty-five, leaves behind his wife, son, and daughter, who are now huddled together in a makeshift shanty located three kilometers away from their village, seeking refuge from the harsh weather.
The death of Boyat Ali has reignited concerns over the treatment of Bengali Muslims in Assam, particularly in eviction drives under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
Previous instances of violence during evictions underscore the systemic discrimination and marginalization faced by the Bengali Muslim community.
Evictions in Goalpara have become increasingly frequent, ostensibly to address human-animal conflicts and protect forest land.