Court orders eviction of occupants from film legend’s ancestral house

Suchitra Sen’s ancestral house in Pabna district

The High Court on Sunday ordered eviction of occupants from the ancestral house of Bengali film legend Suchitra Sen located in Pabna district town within the next two months.
In a verdict delivered in crowded courtroom, the High Court directed  the lessee, Imam Ghazali Institute, to move out of the home.
The bench of Justice Hassan Foyez Siddiqui and Justice Mohamed Jahangir Hossain also asked the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to implement the plan to set up a centre to preserve her memories.
The orders came on a petition pressed by the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB).
HRPB lawyer Manzill Murshid told newsmen that the court delivered the verdict on Thursday and Sunday following hearings. Lawyers Abdur Razzaque and Imran A Siddique argued the case for the institute.
Imran later said that since they have two months to vacate the house, they may consider appealing the judgment in the higher court.
Another High Court bench on July 26 had ordered the government to free the house from ‘land grabbers’ within seven days. It had directed the government to take legal action against the grabbers and submit a report before it in 10 days.
But following a petition by the institute on August 4 with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, an injunction was imposed on the High Court rule the same day and it shifted the two petitions to a third bench for a verdict.
Sen used to live in the house before the partition of India in 1947 and spent her childhood there while studying at Pabna Government Girls’ High School, the HRPB said in the petition.
The house was listed as a vested property after Sen’s family moved to India and the then district-level government officials stayed there for sometime.
The Jamaat-e-Islami-run institute in 1987 took the house on lease. Later, upon an appeal, the land was allotted to the institute before any final decision on the vested property was made.
On June 22, 2009, the additional deputy commissioner (revenue) served a notice to the lessee to leave the premises. It was also stayed by a High Court order on July 7 the same year.