A Santal man has filed a case against a local union parishad chairman and five others on allegations of beating the complainant's mother and burning their house in Gaibandha.

The incident occurred at Rajabirat village of Gobindaganj upazila on Friday over a land dispute between the Santals and Rajahar Union Parishad Chairman Rafiqul Islam, a former BNP leader.

The Santal woman, Filimona Hasda, 55, was admitted to Bogura Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital for treatment of injuries she received during the assault, her family said.

She was discharged yesterday, said Sub-Inspector Krishna, in charge of the police camp at the hospital. 

Bulbul Islam, officer-in-charge of Gobindaganj Police Station, told The Daily Star that Filimona's son Julius Soren, 35, filed the case against Rafiqul, 45, his brother Mezbahul Islam, 40, and four of the chairman's men yesterday.

Bulbul said he heard that there was a land dispute and a Santal woman was slapped in the ear by the chairman, but no one saw who set the house on fire at night.

British Soren, another son of Filimona, told The Daily Star that Rafiqul and his men started filling a piece of empty and low-lying land in their village, Rajabirat, around 10am on Friday. He claimed it was a piece of the Santals' ancestral land, but Bengalees occupied it by showing false documents.

He said Rafiqul's men beat his cousin Nicholas Murmu when the Santals protested against the filling of the land.

"When I visited him and protested against the incident, the chairman brought a bamboo stick to beat me as well. He slapped my mother in the ear when she tried to grab his stick. My mother fell to the ground and blood started coming out of her ear," said British Soren.

The Santal man said his brothers took Filimona to the upazila health complex around 11:30am. She was later sent to the Bogura hospital.

British Soren said while accompanying his mother at the Bogura hospital around 11:00pm, they heard that the chairman's men set fire to their house. Fire Service and Civil Defence officials came to extinguish the fire, but the house was burnt down, British Soren added.

He also said although Filomona was released by the doctors, she still had pain in her ear.

Locals who spoke to this newspaper corroborated Soren's claims, but UP Chairman Rafiqul denied the allegations and told The Daily Star that he had bought a 16 decimal piece of land from a local Bengalee owner 10-12 years ago.

"I have the land documents. The land is also registered in my name," he said.

He also claimed Soren and some other "drunk" Santal youths stopped him and his men from filling the land. "I did not beat his mother," the chairman added.

When asked about the arson attack, Rafiqul said, "I do not know who set the house on fire. I was at the police station to meet the OC [officer-in-charge] at that time."

Filimon Baske, a Santal activist working for their land rights, told The Daily Star that they would hold a protest rally against the beating of the Santal woman and the arson attack on her house.

Filimon, president of the Sahebganj Bagda Farm Bhumi Uddhar Sangram Committee, alleged many Santal families moved to other places from Rajabirat village after about 250 bighas of their land were occupied by local Bengalees since independence.