Gazipur, Bangladesh | Special Report | 12/08/2026
A Hindu family in Gazipur reportedly spent an entire night with the body of a deceased woman at their home after a long-running land dispute allegedly prevented them from accessing the place where they intended to perform her final rites.
The incident took place in Aktapara village of Maona Union in Sreepur upazila. On Tuesday (11 August), 60-year-old Sreemati Menoka, a senior member of the local Mandai Hindu community and wife of Gopal, died while undergoing treatment for age-related health complications.
According to her family, Gopal had previously purchased about one decimal of land and built a small homestead there. Later, he allegedly purchased another decimal from a neighbour, Chhafar Uddin, through a stamped agreement and paid the full amount. However, complications over mutation reportedly left the formal registration of the additional land incomplete.
Following Menoka’s death, the family alleged that Chhafar Uddin refused to recognise the earlier agreement and erected a wall blocking access to the area where the family planned to carry out the funeral rites. As a result, they said there was no remaining passage through which the body could be taken for cremation.
The family reportedly sought help from local community leaders, elected representatives and law-enforcement authorities. Several mediation meetings were also held, but the dispute remained unresolved.
Former Maona Union Parishad chairman and freedom fighter Fazlul Haque said efforts had been made to persuade the neighbour to resolve the matter socially, but those attempts did not succeed. The family consequently remained at home through the night with Menoka’s body, waiting for a way to carry out the final rites.
Officer-in-Charge of Sreepur Police Station Mohammad Shahinur Alam confirmed that police went to the location after receiving information about the dispute. He said officers attempted to facilitate a settlement, but the disagreement between the two sides created legal complications.
The family has appealed to the authorities to intervene in the land dispute and ensure that they can access the property and conduct the deceased woman’s final rites.
The competing claims over the land and the validity of the agreement could not be independently verified. The ownership and legal status of the disputed property would need to be established through examination of official land records and other relevant documents.
