Land dispute clash turns ugly, six gunshots fired in Hezamara

A land dispute between two families snowballed into a violent confrontation on Monday leading to firing of six gunshots in Balucherra village of Hezamara under the jurisdiction of Sidhai police station. 

The villagers on Tuesday sought intervention of the local police and lodged an FIR against six persons. The police were yet to issue any official statements regarding the matter. 

Speaking to media persons, one of the victims of the violent confrontation said, “My grandfather Samprai Debbarma had been allotted large tracts or land for the purpose of shifting cultivation. That land has been inherited by us as his successors and legitimate legal heirs as per the laws of succession but to our utter surprise Sankar Debbarma, his brothers and along with his henchmen were trying to grab our land.” 

The lady further stated that a small parcel of the land they own had been sold to Sankar Debbarma while her grandfather was alive. “Before the sale deed was prepared, our grandfather informed us that he was selling 10 Kanis of land to Sankar Debbarma, a resident of the same village. Now, Sankar and Rabi are trying to grab the land surrounding the plot which has been transferred to him. This is injustice,” she added. 

Stating that even after the elders of the village intervened to amicably resolve the problem, Rabi Debbarma, Suneel Debbarma and Sankar Debbarma didn’t budge and instead of respecting the village heads, they created ruckus during the arbitration meeting. 

“An arbitration meeting was called to resolve the dispute. Sankar Debbarma and his associates didn’t let the meeting conclude on a positive and fruitful note. They, instead of participating in the deliberations, resorted to vandalism and ruckus,” the lady who lodged the complaint said. 

According to her, tension ran high on Monday night once again when Sankar Debbarma allegedly barged into their house and started firing gunshots indiscriminately. “Fortunately, no one suffered any bullet injuries,” she recounted. 

She, however, alleged that a scuffle broke out on the occasion leading to mild injuries to people from both the sides. 

Local sources also alleged that police didn’t take timely efforts to contain the violence and due to the inert role of the police the dispute escalated to such a scale.