"They Killed My Son": Assam Family Mourn Man Beaten To Death On Camera

Two people were killed when an eviction drive in Assam turned violent with clashes between police and protesters.

The man in a vest and lungi who was savagely attacked at Dholpur village in Assam on Thursday - shot, thrashed and stomped upon to death - has been identified at Moinul Haque, a 30-years-old father of two children and caretaker of two elderly parents who made a living - a very meagre living - growing vegetables in a patch of land that government claimed was not his and evicted him.

"They have killed my son," cried his father, "are we Bangladeshis? Then send us away!"

Moinul Haque's wife and mother wept inconsolably, as they huddled under a tin shelter at a makeshift relief camp for some 800 people uprooted from their homes yesterday. The two children - a boy of 7 and a 5-year-old girl, sat nearby, shellshocked. The body of their father, sent to a hospital in Sipajhar, has not been handed back by the police yet.  

The police evicted villagers from four areas - Gorukhunti and Dholpur 1, 2 and 3. The gruesome incident - in which Moinul Haque was attacked by a government cameraman filming the eviction operation and the police - took place at Dholpur 3. Eviction notices were given to villagers on Wednesday night and eviction began Thursday morning.