“They just hacked without saying anything. They tied me to an electric pole with two people and hacked me. I kept saying, ‘Don’t beat me, don’t hurt me,’ but they didn’t listen.”
This is what Abu Sufian said while groaning in pain on his hospital bed. Abu Sufian is currently receiving treatment at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Pangu Hospital) in the capital. Last Wednesday, in Shibganj of Chapainawabganj, Abu Sufian was tied to an electric pole and severely injured with sharp weapons.
According to the family, Sufian protested against the harassment of a teenage girl who was their relative. The assailants sided with the youth accused of harassment and they then beat and hacked Sufian. Sufian claims he is involved with the politics of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) while the assailants are linked to Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir.
After the incident, Sufian’s father, Rabiul Islam, filed a case at Shibganj police station on Thursday night. Later, police conducted a raid and arrested two people. The court sent them to jail. The two arrested are Shah Alam, 22, and his brother Abdul Razzaq, 23. Both are involved with Jamaat’s politics.
However, local Jamaat leaders say that some unidentified people committed the incident under the cover of darkness to put the blame on Jamaat.
A visit to Pangu Hospital on Sunday showed bandages on Abu Sufian’s body and clear marks of assault. His left arm had been hanging after being hacked. Physicians say the arm may have to be amputated below the elbow. His left leg and left arm, as well as his right arm, are wrapped in bandages. An iron ‘external fixator’ has been attached to his right arm after surgery.
Stating Prothom Alo that he addressed one of the attackers as ‘sir,’ Abu Sufian said, “Without saying anything, seven to eight people started beating me. I respect one of them as sir. I asked, ‘Sir, why are you beating me? What is my crime?’”
Abu Sufian said he repeatedly told his attackers that he had committed no crime and was willing to prove it. But no one wanted to listen to him. While initially seven to eight people beat him, later two of them continued hacking him. The others stood by. Shopkeepers nearby closed their shops and left while he was being assaulted.
He further said that after hacking him, at one point they untied his hands and feet, and he collapsed to the ground. Later, his parents rescued him.
He said, “Now the physicians are saying my hand is damaged. The blood vessels are severed. My left hand will not function. It will have to be amputated.”
Abu Sufian studied at secondary level. He claims he assists his father in agriculture and other work. He is from Bajitpur village of Shibganj upazila in Chapainawabganj. He was first taken to a local hospital in critical condition and later brought to Dhaka on the morning of 25 December.
Sub-inspector of Shibganj police station and investigating officer of the case, Gopal Chandra Mondol, told Prothom Alo over the phone on Sunday that Abu Sufian’s father, Rabiul Islam, filed the case naming three people and accusing 12 to 15 unidentified people.
After the arrest of Abdul Razzaq and Shah Alam, they were sent to jail. Another accused in the case, Badiur, is absconding. Abdul Razzaq is a madrasah teacher.
Abu Sufian’s mother, Sufia Begum, is devastated after seeing her son in this condition before her eyes. She said, “Why did they hack my son without any fault, without any reason? Is there no justice for this? Are there no laws and courts in this country?”