Child crying for mother, mob beats father mistaking him for kidnapper

Sohel Mia, 30, from Harua Sawdagarpara area in Kishoreganj municipality got married to his neighbour Sabina Akhter, 25, about 10 years ago.

The couple had three children together. Sabina divorced Sohel a few days back. Their children stayed with the father.

Their three-year-old daughter, Raisa was getting restless to go to her mother. For the sake of Raisa, Sohel went to look for his ex-wife.

While Sohel was crossing Agarpur Bus Stand area in Kuliarchar upazila of the district in a battery-run rickshaw with his daughter Raisa, she was crying nonstop for her mother.

Local people felt suspicious seeing the child cry. Later, they tied and beat Sohel up terribly mistaking him for a kidnapper.

Though Raisa kept crying calling out to her father at the time, Sohel wasn’t spared from the rage of the public.

Sohel tried to grab the attention of the raging crowed repeatedly by saying, “brother, please listen to me,” but to no avail. Later, police arrived at the scene, rescued and took him to the police station. Then it was proved that Sohel is not a kidnapper and the child with him was his own daughter.

The incident of father being beaten in front of the child occurred in Tatarkandi area under Ramdi union under Kuliarchar upazila Sunday afternoon.

The police handed over Sohel to other members of his family around 10:00 pm. He received treatment at the upazla health complex first. Now he’s undergoing treatment at a private hospital under the supervision of his family members.  

This is extremely sad and painful, remarked officer-in-charge of Kuliarchar police station Md Helal Uddin. One can have suspicion about anything, but it’s a huge crime, and a big mistake to start a trial without evidence just based on suspicion. That is what happened in Sohel’s case.

Sohel’s mother, brother and others came to the police station and took the two of them away on the same night. A general diary has been filed in this regard with Kuliarchar police station, he added.

Sohel’s family members said that Sohel used to pamper Raisa more to appease the child deprived of mother’s presence. Still it didn’t work. That’s why Sohel took Raisa along with him to look for her ex-wife.

Assiuming that Raisa’s mother might be at a relative’s house in Bhairab, Sohel went there with Raisa a few days ago. But, he didn’t find her there. Then on their way back home from Bhairab on Sunday, they faced the unpleasant incident at Agarpur bus stand.

When Sohel’s mother Niya Shah Begum arrived at the police station and saw him injured, she broke into tears. She said, “I have heard that my grandchild called out to her father. She wanted to go to her father.”

Niya Shah questioned, “Still it didn’t dawn on the minds of those people! How could they all try to kill my son, without paying heed to my grandchild?”

On condition of anonymity, a few of those present at the scene at the time of the incident said, first of all the child was crying hysterically and secondly the father of the child didn’t look normal. After he was confronted he couldn’t say anything believable and the child was also crying relentlessly at the time. With everything, the situation became very confusing.

Meanwhile, people stated recording videos and posting them on various Facebook groups with the captions about a kidnapper being captured. The situation went out of control within seconds. Then some responsible people reported the incident to the police.

The police arrived at the scene quickly to rescue them and take them to the police station. These witnesses did admit that the child was crying and calling out to her father seeing him being beaten. They admitted they should have realised it then.

After he was released, Sohel said, “They (agitated crowd) didn’t listen to any of my words. They didn’t even give the chance to explain that Raisa was my own daughter. They beat me up in any way they could and recorded videos of that.”