Terror in the Sunderbans

The West Bengal police work out strategies to deal with pirates in the Sunderbans region who have for decades held fishermen for ransom.

SUHRID SHANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY in Kolkata

FOR over 50 per cent of the population of the Sunderbans, with its unique eco-system, in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, which is dependent solely on fishing for a livelihood, life is fraught with dangers. Apart from being vulnerable to the vagaries of nature and wild animals, the fishermen face attacks from pirates, who sometimes capture their trawlers and boats, seize their catch and hold them hostage. The ransom the pirates demand ranges from Rs.30,000 to over Rs.1 lakh.

Kanti Ganguli, West Bengal's Minister for Sunderbans Affairs, told Frontline that the "problem is quite acute and has been there for over 30 years. The government and the administration are doing their best to combat the menace." The attacks take place on a regular basis. "The pirates become most active after July. That is the time when, after the Rath ceremony, the big trawlers go to the sea," Ganguli said.

On an average around 60,000 fishermen go out into the high seas every day. The abductions usually take place when they return with the catch. In a number of cases, the pirates hail from Bangladesh. According to a senior government official, "The riverine border shared by India and Bangladesh in this region has practically no checkpoint or Border Security Force (BSF) outpost, floating or otherwise, up to 70 km. This makes trans-border piracy all the more easy."

However, most of the piracy is carried out by local gangs. "It is very difficult to distinguish one trawler from another. Sometimes a gang of pirates may be operating from an ordinary fishing trawler so that they can get close to the unsuspecting fishermen and capture them," an informed source said. The pirates usually send a few of their hostages away with instructions to the families of the others to arrange for ransom. The money-prisoners swap usually takes place at Canning, Dakghat or Jharkahali.

Four major gangs operate in the Sunderbans. Of them the most infamous one is the Canning-Dockghat gang, headed by Nurislam Molla, who took over here after the notorious Rejjak Sardar was killed in a police encounter in June. The oldest gang, the Jharkhali Kata Jungle, which is now defunct, was formed by Bachchu Sardar. This gang was the terror of the Sunderbans for over 25 years. Five years ago, old age and infirmity forced Bachchu to retire from active crime. The gang continued to operate under the command of his second wife, Phuldasi, who was often referred to as the 'Phoolan Devi of the Sunderbans'. She died last year following a bout of diarrhoea. Although Bachchu has given up piracy, he is known to plan attacks for other gangs. "He used to be a master criminal. Apart from knowing the Sunderbans in West Bengal inside out, he is also very familiar with the Sunderbans on the Bangladeshi side and has many contacts there," said R.K. Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police, South 24 Parganas. There are also the Merrygunj gang headed by Madhu and the Madhavpur gang operated by Harangaji Parangaji and his associate Rafiq Khan.

The pirates' original homes were in the Sunderbans. They are believed to have moved their families to the heavily forested New Moore region, locally known as Purbasha, on no man's land along the water boundary of West Bengal and Bangladesh.

Piracy is concentrated at the mouth of the Matla, the Bidya and the Thakuran, near the Bay of Bengal. "The Bulchari, Dalhousie and Chulkati regions lying between the Matla and the Thakuran are also unsafe for fishing," says R.K. Singh. The pirates often take their hostages to the island of Kedodweep island, an uninhabited, densely forested tiger reserve at the Bay mouth, and Purbasha, east of Kedodweep. However, pirate attacks are not restricted to this region. They take place anywhere in the Sunderbans.

Haripada Paik, an elderly fisherman living in Raidighi, says that 35 years ago pirates demanded a ransom of Rs.10,000 and also oil, rice, cigarettes and sweets in exchange for the seized boats and fishermen. "If any of the items provided turned out to be bad, the captured fishermen would be beaten mercilessly. Pirates have even killed their captives when their demands were not met," he recalls. Those days Bachchu Sardar was the main terror of the Sunderbans. The pirates also took protection money.

In order to combat the menace, the Sunderban Fishermen and Fishwor- kers Union (SFFU), affiliated to the United Trade Union Centre (Lenin-Sarani), the trade union wing of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), was formed in 1982. According to Nilratan Haldar, president of the SFFU, initially neither the union nor the fishermen received any support from the local or district administration. "They (the officials) kept saying that the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) was running the racket and not local gangs." The attacks reached alarming proportions when pirates extorted over Rs.25 lakhs and killed three fishermen between August and October 1988. All fishing activity came to a halt. When they found no fishermen at sea, the pirates started marauding the land. "The same gangs started attacking market places and houses in broad daylight, and the administration still did nothing," Haldar said.

In 1989, near the island of Kalashdweep on the Matla, the Merrygunj gang captured a large number of fishermen and demanded a ransom of Rs.20 lakhs. Nirmal Das, joint secretary of the union, said: "We staged a protest outside the District Magistrate's office. Subse-quently, BSF personnel and a team of policemen from Kultuli were deployed." When the pirates realised that security forces had been deployed, they removed the captives to Kedodweep, 10 km from Kalashdweep and a two-hour journey by trawler. The BSF laid siege to the island for three days. In the shoot-out that followed, 15 of the 30 pirates present were killed; the others were not found. After this incident, the 11 fisher-men's associations in West Bengal formed the West Bengal United Fishermen's Association at the initiative of the SFFU. "We (union activists) get threatening phone calls at our office (at Raidighi), asking us to stop all union activities," Haldar said.

"Logistical problems impede police action against the pirates. The scenes of crime are normally 10 hours journey from the police stations at Raidighi, Kultuli and Gosaba. These areas are not electrified. So, even if a police station gets the news of a crime, it cannot alert other police stations for back-up," R.K. Singh said. The police launches are slower than the mechanised boats used by the pirates, and they are ill-equipped to enter the innumerable narrow creeks that provide an escape route into the dense jungles. "To put an end to piracy in the Sunderbans, we have to have adequate facilities," he said.

The situation has improved somewhat in recent times, with the administration and the police taking a more active role in combating the pirates. On February 10, Rejjak Sardar's gang kidnapped seven fishermen in the Dalhousie region and kept them prisoners in Kedodweep. Word was sent to the relatives of the kidnapped to meet Rejjak's associates in Dakghat and hand over Rs.50,000 as ransom. However, Rejjak's men were arrested, and a few days later the fishermen were released.

Rejjak's luck finally ran out. The cagey pirate, who eluded arrest for long, was killed on June 9. On that day, at 8 a.m. R.K. Singh received information that seven fishermen had been kidnapped the night before at Kuberbali, between the Matla and Thakuran rivers, by Rejjak's men. The relatives of the kidnapped were instructed to reach Monirul, a tea shop at Dakghat on June 13 with a cloth tied on their left hand and carrying Rs.10,000 each. They were told to ask for Rejjak Sardar. But on June 9 Rejjak kidnapped six more fishermen from Kuberbali. "I immediately placed launches in those parts of the Thakuran, Bidya and Matla rivers that the pirates were bound to use to reach Dakghat," R.K. Singh said. (Minister Kanti Ganguli accompanied the police in one of the launches.) "I was working on a hunch that Rejjak would return the same day through the creeks to Golabari and from there to Dakghat," R.K. Singh said. He himself held vigil at Golabari. A public boat was hired from Canning, and all ferry boats in that part of the Matla were checked. The Matla's meandering course made it easy for the police to take cover. At 11-15 a.m., as R.K. Singh anticipated, Rejjak's boat approached, heading for Dakghat. Confronted by the police, Rejjak and his men started firing from 50 metres. "Forty-five rounds were fired, and in the exchange of gunfire Rejjak was killed. His body was found the next day. Three pirates escaped, seven were caught," R.K. Singh said. On June 25, Jiyad Ali Lay, another pirate, was arrested from the house of Bachchu in Jharkhali where they had gone to seek his advice on another kidnapping expedition.

In order to deal more effectively with the pirates, 10 officers and a force of 50 have been deployed to keep vigil in the Sunderbans. Police outposts have been set up at Kaikhali on the Matla under the Kultuli police station, at Jharkhali under the Basanti police station, and at Haldibari near Kedodweep. At Haldibari, the police are working in collaboration with the Forest Department. "Three launches and a trawler have been hired and we have also asked for speedboats," R.K. Singh said.

Interestingly, the police also plan to recruit 50 local people, even petty criminals who have knowledge of the innumerable creeks, and train them in order to check the menace.

A fisherman's day out

SOMETIME in March, Harananda Moira, a fisherman living in Raidighi, was worried when his uncle's boat was missing for two days. He went to Canning to make enquiries. There he was told that the boat was last seen at Dockghat. At Dockghat, he saw some parts the boat, but did not see his uncle. He went back to Canning and telephoned the Sunderban Fishermen and Fishworkers' Union (SFFU) from a booth. When he came out, he was accosted by two pistol-wielding men. "Somebody must have informed them that I was making enquiries about my uncle. They took me to Dockghat, where I was presented before Rejjak Sardar. Brandishing a pistol in my direction, Rejjak threatened to kill me and my uncle for informing the union," Harananda told Frontline.

Rejjak's brother-in-law, Raihan Majhi, knew Harananda. "Both of us being fishermen, we were on good terms. He saved me from Rejjak's gun. While they were fighting, I ran for my life," he said. The next day Harananda's uncle was let off, but the pirates kept the boat.

Another uncle of Harananda was not so lucky. In 1988, Prafulla Moira was killed after his family failed to pay the ransom in time.