Police assaulted for stopping bike
At least five policemen were assaulted by a number of young men in Chattogram on Sunday as a traffic sergeant halted a motorcycle and charged the rider for violating the rules.
The young men also attacked the traffic police box at the New Market intersection in the city.
The incident took place during the traffic week being held across the country. The identity of the attackers could not be verified. The police detained a number of people following the attacks but later freed them.
A case was filed against the motorcyclist only rather than the other attackers. The Kotwali police station officer-in-charge Mohammad Mohsin said, no cases were filed on behalf of the traffic police as they said it was only a ‘misunderstanding’.
How the attacks were carried out
Traffic sergeant Mojaherul Islam, who was on duty at the spot on Sunday afternoon said, constable Mamun Miah stopped a motorcyclist, Md. Meheraj, as he was driving on the the wrong side of the road from City College intersection towards New Market. Meheraj was infuriated at being stopped.
When a case was filed against him for violating traffic rules, he called his associates over phone. Within minutes about 12 young men came up to the traffic police box and assaulted the police there.
Several policemen the Kotwali police were assaulted too when they came to control the situation. One among the assaulters chased the Kotwali police constable Md. Masud. Meanwhile, one of the policemen caught an attacker but he released him as he apologised.
Mojaherul Islam refused to comment on the matter.
Constable Mamun lost three of the buttons of his shirt and was slapped too. The law enforcer was too upset to talk. He just wept in humiliation.
Four shopkeepers who witnessed the events confirmed of the assaults by the motorcyclist and his associates.
Chattogram metropolitan police officer Md. Mahabubur Rahman said he would take necessary action after probing into the matter.
Choas continues in transport sector
The traffic week has done nothing to bring order to the transport sector.
The buses still compete rashly, indiscriminately picking up and dropping passengers, there are illegal bus stands on the roads, and other irregularties.
“A total of 465 cases were filed against different vehicles yesterday (Sunday) and 41 have been detained so far,” said Subash Chandra Dey, a traffic police inspector.
The chaos in the transport sector was visible along the Karnaphuli Shah Amanat bridge gateway, the New Market intersection, Muradpur and other intersections from morning to afternoon on Sunday.
About 20 buses were racing as usual on the Shah Amanat bridge.
Buses and the 'human hauler' public transport vehicles were competing for passengers at Muradnagar in the city around 12:30pm.
These 'human haulers' travel from Oxygen to Hathazari and park on the Hathazari road at the Muradnagar intersection. The area is used as a stand for the haulers.
“There is no space to park so they queue up and passengers are picked up and dropped off there,” said the lineman Md. Alam when asked why the road was used as a stand.