5th graders tied to tree, tortured in Pirojpur, 2 held

Police on Sunday arrested two people for tying two minors to a tree and torturing them on suspicion of stealing a mobile phone in Pirojpur's Bhandaria upazila, reports UNB.

The detainees were identified as Khalilur Rahman, 65, and his son Mehedi Hasan, 27, of Bhitabaria village of the upazila. The victims were named as Rakib, 9, and Hridoy, 11.

"Khalilur and Mehedi tied the children to a tree with rope and beat them up mercilessly on Saturday, accusing them of stealing a mobile phone," said Rakib's mother Rashida Begum.

The children fell sick after being subjected to barbaric torture. Locals later rescued them and took them to the Upazila Health Complex, she said.

Officer-in-Charge of Bhandaria police station SM Maksudur Rahman said Rakib's mother filed a case with them on Saturday over the matter.

The accused were produced before the court which sent them to jail.

Last year, 271 children died after rape, sexual harassment and physical torture while 1,006 more were victims of such incidents, according to Manusher Jonno Foundation, a non-government organisation that works for marginalised communities.

The torture and killing of minor boy Rajon by a group of men in 2015 in Sylhet had triggered massive outcry across the country. The killers had accused him of trying to steal a rickshaw van.

A Sylhet court sentenced four persons to death in November 2015 for the killing.

In a separate incident, two men were sentenced to death for killing a 12-year-old boy by pumping air through his rectum in Khulna in 2015.