Attempted assault and murder by stripping a disabled person in Lalmonirhat, video goes viral

Mostafizur Rahman, Lalmonirhat: In Kaliganj upazila of Lalmonirhat, the video of the beating and attempted murder of a mentally handicapped man named Sekendar Ali (49) has gone viral. The disabled man's wife Argina Begum filed a case in the court seeking justice. The case was registered with Kaliganj Police Station on Friday (June 24) at noon. Earlier, the incident took place at around 9:30 pm on June 5 at Uttar Gopalraya village of Kakina Union under the upazila. He is a van driver by profession. According to the case filed in the court, the mentally handicapped Sekendar Ali kept the family afloat by driving the van. The driver of the van, Sekendar Ali, owed money to Jahedul Islam, the son of his neighbor Abdur Jabbar, for transporting trees. When they went to ask for the money owed, there was a controversy in the local Sukandighi market. Sekendar Ali was returning home in a van on June 5 at around 9:30 pm after work in the market. Jahedul Islam and his three brothers and their family members blocked the road near their house due to the previous dispute. At that time, Jahedul Islam undressed the van driver Sekendar Ali with the branches and sticks of the Gangra tree and beat him severely. Sekendar Ali was not spared even holding the hands and feet of the attackers in an attempt to save his life. At one point, some of the attackers stripped naked Sekendar Ali and another tried to kill him by strangling him. In order to save his wife Argina and daughter, the assailants also beat and humiliated them. Later, the locals rushed to his rescue and rescued Sekendar Ali from the clutches of the attackers in a bloody condition and admitted him to Kaliganj Upazila Health Complex. The whole incident of the assault by stripping the disabled van driver Sekendar Ali naked and leaving a video of the attackers through social media went viral. Argina Begum, wife of van driver Sekendar Ali, filed a case in the Lalmonirhat Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court on June 14 against seven members of her family, including Jahedul Islam, after she recovered after a long seven-day hospital treatment. The court accepted the case and directed Kaliganj police station to register it as a regular case. The case was finally registered on Friday (June 24). Kaliganj Police Officer-in-Charge (OC) Golam Rasul said, "After watching the video of inhuman torture, I immediately appointed an officer to arrest the attackers." But they escaped and could not be arrested. I wanted to take the case to the police station. But the plaintiff has filed a case in the court on the words of others. Attempts to arrest the attackers continue.