PROTEST AGAINST SEXUAL HARASSMENT : 3 killed, 5 injured in police firing

Three people were killed and five were injured as police opened fire at local people who clashed with the police during their protests against an alleged sexual harassment at Kalihati upazila in Tangail on Friday.
Faruk Hossain, 38, of Kushtia village of Kalihati died on the spot. Shameem, 32, of Salenga village of Ghatail upazila died at Tangail Medical College Hospital, physicians at the hospital said.
Another victim, Shyamal Chnadra Pal of Atharodana village of Ghatail died on his way to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after the hospital in Tangail refered him to Dhaka in a critical condition.
Rubel, 32, Shyamal, 18, and Badsha, 30, who sustained bullet injured in the heads, were sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital as their condition were deteriorating, said Tangail Medical College Hospital residential medical officer Ashraf Ali.
The Tangail acting superintendent of police, Sanjay Sarkar, declined to comment on the incident.
Another police officer told New Age that the clash ensued at about 4:30pm when protesters, who were rallying against an alleged sexual harassment of a woman in front of her son, attacked six cops on duty on Dhaka-Mymensingh Highways at Kalihati.
‘We are not sure why they carried out the attack on policemen, but cops opened fire in an attempt to rescue their colleagues,’ the official claimed.
He, however, said, ‘We are not sure on what circumstances police from Kalihati and Ghatail opened fire.’
The Tangail deputy commissioner, Mahbub Hossain, said that they were visiting the spot along with acting superintendent of police
Sanjay Sarkar to know what exactly triggered the violence.
He said that the Kalihati upazila nirhabi officer was asked to look into the matter.
Witnesses said that the locals of Kalihati and Ghatail were staging protests at about 4:30pm on Firday on Tangail-Mymensingh Highway against the alleged sexual harassment of a local woman in front of her son on September 15.
Police charged baton on the protesters to disperse them from the highway triggering clashes between the cops and the protesters, the witnesses said, adding that the cops fired 50 bullets at the protesters during the clashes.
Seven people with bullet injuries were rushed to Kalihati upazila health complex and Tangail Medical College Hospital.
Traffic movement on the highway through Kalihati remained suspended for several hours causing enormous sufferings to the passengers, mostly home-goers ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
A district intelligence official said that they had information that the angry people would gather after Juma prayers but they were not sure about violence in the area that was heading for a parliamentary by-poll.
Additional police were deployed in the area to avoid further trouble.
Local people alleged that Rafiqul Islam Roma along with his brother-in-law Hafizuddin and others forcibly picked up a day labour of Ghatail upazila and his mother to Rafiqul’s house at Satulia of Kalihati on September 15.
Rafiqul and his men tortured the day labour and his mother and allegedly harassed her sexually in front of her son on allegation that his wife recently eloped with the day labour, the locals said.
Locals later rescued the victims and rushed them to Tangail Medical College Hospital.
The police arrested Rafiqul and Hafizuddin after the victim day labour filed a case on September 15.

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