he legs of the boy were shackled and hands tied with a rope. Helpless, Rubel was screaming, appealing to stop beating him.
“Bring me the Quran. I can touch it and say I was not in this [theft of a mobile phone]…Please don’t beat me. You will be held accountable [for this] to Allah,” said the 13-year-old boy, wailing.
However, the plea drew no attention. Shah Alam at the Khadya Gudam area in Habiganj sadar continued striking the boy, son of Bachchu Mia, with a bamboo stick for around five minutes until it broke.
People standing around seemed unmoved.
Apart from Rubel, two other children — Rony, 12, son of Abdul Khalek, and Mahin, 12, of Jasherabda area, — experienced the savagery of Shah Alam over allegations that they had been involved in stealing a mobile phone on Wednesday.
Mahin’s family used to live at a rented house owned by Shah Alam.
Locals said Shah Alam, an accused in several cases of extortion and theft, had confined and then chained up the children.
As someone videotaped the incident that was later broadcast on television, the police rushed to the spot, but went back without taking any measure.
Rajkumar, a sub-inspector of Habiganj Model Police Station, was closed on Wednesday night for negligence in rescuing the children, said Raselur Rahman, assistant superintendent of Habiganj.
Rajkumar went to the Khadya Gudam area around 8:00pm on Wednesday but returned without doing anything about the children who were chained up and given no food since the morning.
Instructed by Habiganj Superintendent of Police Najim Uddin, the officer-in-charge of the police station went to the spot around 10:00pm and rescued them, Raselur added.
The children were taken to the Habiganj Sadar Adhunik Hospital and then to the police station and to the court for recording their statements.
Najim Uddin told The Daily Stat the allegations made by locals go with the statements.
Sultana Rajia, mother of Rubel, filed a case accusing Shah Alam of torturing the children under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act yesterday.
In an overnight raid, police arrested Shah Alam and his aides — Ripon Mia, 18, and his mother Shaheda Begum, 35, — in Jasherabda area.
Locals said Shah Alam, from Patharia village of Baniachang upazila in Habiganj, grabbed land and set up a colony-type housing facility for low-income groups in Habiganj sadar.
There are cases against him of extortion and installing illegal electricity connections. He had to pay Tk 16 lakh fine in a case recently, locals said.
The incident comes amid a series of medieval-style abuse of children, which led to their death.
Sagar Barman, a 10-year-old boy, who used to work in Zobeda Textile and Spinning Mills in Rupganj, died after some workers pumped air into his body through the rectum on July 24.
Thirteen-year-old Samiul Alam Rajon was beaten to death in Sylhet in July last year; 12-year-old Rakib was tortured to death in Khulna on August 3 as two men inserted a high-pressure air pump nozzle into his rectum, and 10-year-old Rabiul was beaten to death for “stealing fish” in Barguna in August last year.
Source: The Daily Star
