Sex workers evicted from Madaripur town

MADARIPUR, Aug 27: Local people have evicted sex workers from Puran Bazar area in Madaripur town on Tuesday in presence of police.

Ignoring a High Court order, they forcibly evicted the sex workers. The High Court ordered not to evict the sex workers from their houses at Puran Bazar area. The High Court issued the order on May 7 last following a writ petition filed by Ain-o-Salish Kendra, a human rights organisation.

Some 500 to 600 people led by Islam-e-Qaum Parishad took part in the eviction drive on Tuesday morning. During the eviction, they beat the female sex workers and vandalised their houses.

Later, police went to the place of occurence and helped the female sex workers to leave their houses. All the houses became vacant within the early afternoon. More than 500 male and female sex workers used to live in Puran Bazar area.

Madaripur`s Additional Police Super Nasirul Islam told risingbd.com that Islam-e-Qaum Parishad had been trying to evict the sex workers` village for a long time. They carried out a sudden attack at about 11.30am. Receiving information, police went there and brought the situation under control firing several rounds of blank shots.

On condition of anonimity, a female sex worker said, "The authorities assured us of rehabilitation. Instead of doing it, they evicted us from our houses. Now where will we go? What will we eat?"

When contacted, Public Prosecutor (PP) of Madaripur Judge Court Advocate Sujit Chatterjee said the High Court issued an order not to evict the sex workers forcibly. So, the eviction drive was supposed to be lawful.