Four months have passed since the miscreants broke the sculpture of 'Bagha Jatin' in Kumarkhali of Kushtia. It has not yet been possible to renovate that sculpture of the revolutionary hero.
The reformation of the sculpture is stuck in between paperwork and legal complexities. The symbol of Bir Bagha Jatin, a leading revolutionary of the anti-British movement is still standing with wounds in the face.
Some miscreants, on the night of December 17 last year, broke down the scuplture of the pioneer of the anti-British movement located in the premises of Koya College in Kaya Union of Kumarkhali Upazila in Kushtia. Parts of face and nose of the sculpture of Bagha Jatin got damaged.
The day after the incident, the Principal of Koya College Harun Ar Rashid filed a case with the Kumarkhali police station against the unidentified accused. After filing the case, the police arrested Anisur Rahman, president of Kaya Union Jubo League, on December 19. Later, according to his confession, two Jubo League activists Sabuj Hossain and Hridoy Ahmed, accomplises of Anisur, were arrested.
Kumarkhali Police Station (OC-Investigation) Rakibul Islam said that three days of remand was granted after police had applied for seven days when the accused were produced in court on December 19. During remand, they informed the police that four of them had vandalized the sculpture in a planned manner to trap other leaders in a dispute over the control of Koya College.
After this incident, Kumarkhali Upazila Jubo League expelled Anisur from the party. The three arrested accused are still in jail while Bacchu Sheikh, another accused in the case, has been on the run since the incident.
Meanwhile, it has not been possible yet to repair or renovate the sculpture of the revolutionary hero Bagha Jatin though it's still out there, broken. The renovation work of the sculpture is stuck in the complication of transferring legal letters.
Asked why the sculpture of Bagha Jatin has not been renovated in so many days, Harun Ar Rashid, Principal of Koya College, said, "A letter signed by Assistant Commissioner Riju Tamanna on behalf of the Deputy Commissioner was issued on January 26 this year to renovate the sculpture."
The letter was handed over to him on February 2 where it was instructed to quickly renovate the sculpture. At the same time a copy of the letter was handed over to the Kumarkhali Upazila Nirbahi Officer.
Harun Ar Rashid, the plaintiff in the case, sought permission from Selina Khatun, Senior Judicial Magistrate of Kumarkhali on March 3 to renovate the sculpture to avoid legal complications as the case is pending in court. Following the application, the concerned court gave permission for the renovation of the sculpture on March 7. The principal said he had applied to the Kumarkhali Upazila Nirbahi Officer for renovation of the sculpture on the same day with the court permission.
Asked about the progress of the sculpture renovation on his mobile phone, Kumarkhali Upazila Nirbahi Officer Rajibul Islam Khan said, "As the case is pending in the court, a letter has been sent to Kumarkhali Police Station to know if there is any legal complexity in the way of renovation."
He was not yet aware that the court had allowed the sculpture to be renovated on March 7. "If there is no legal complication, the sculpture will be renovated soon.", he added.
Kumarkhali police sub-inspector Rakibul Islam, who is investigating into the case, said he had not received any court order to renovate the sculpture.
Meanwhile, the culture conscious people of the district have expressed showed discontent as the sculpture has not been renovated even after a long time.
Amirul Islam, general secretary of Kushtia District Shilpakala Academy, said, "It is a shame and a ghoulish incident." He demanded that the sculpture to be renovated very quickly.
To recollect the memory of the revolutionary hero Bagha Jatin, the pioneer of the anti-British movement, Kumarkhali Upazila Administration built the sculpture in the premises of Koya College in 2018. Later, the then Divisional Commissioner of Khulna Abdus Samad inaugurated the sculpture as the chief guest.
Jatindranath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin) was a leader of anti-British revolution. He was born at Koya of Kumarkhali in Kushtia district in 1879. He is best known as 'Bagha Jatin'.
He played a very important role in the anti-British armed movement in India. Bagha Jatin was the main leader of the team 'Jugantar', the main revolutionary organization of Bengal. He received a promise of arms and ammunition from Germany by meeting the German Crown Prince in Kolkata before the First World War. The German plot was his formation during the World War-I.
In the oncoming battle, he was seriously wounded at Baleshwar in Orissa and died at the Balasore Hospital in 1915 at the age of 35.