Brutal! Pro-hartal men attack 60 school kids, 3 teachers; vandalise school in Lalmonirhat, Bangladesh
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Three injured students lie on benches and others gather around them at Khuniyagachh Government Primary School in Lalmonirhat on Thursday. Photo: STAR |
As the unknown men, eight to 10 in number, started to beat up the
headmaster, Jahanara Akhter and her classmates started running in every
directions, not knowing what to do. A man appeared in front of her out
of the blue and hit her with a cricket bat.
Shrill cries of the innocent kids filled the air on Thursday morning as the intruders ran amok at Khuniyagachh Government Primary School in Lalmonirhat Sadar Upzila, vandalising the school and beating up teachers and at least 60 students of class two and three.
Their “crime” was continuing the classes amid hartal (shutdown).
It was around 10:45am when around 35 BNP men led by Khuniyagachh Union Parishad unit of BNP president Aminul Islam entered the school ground with a procession, Abdul Hye, headmaster of the school, told The Daily Star.
“After vandalising the main gate of the school, they yelled at me for keeping the school open defying hartal,” the headmaster said.
Some 10 of the intruders pinned him down and beat up in front of teachers and students, the teachers said.
They also beat up two female assistant teachers – Sabina Yasmin Kakuli and Taznin Akhter.
“We pleaded with them not to attack the kids but they won’t listen,” Kakuli said, adding that the intruders were carrying wooden and bamboo sticks, iron rod and sharp weapons.
Storming into the teachers’ room, some pro-hartal men vandalised furniture and ransacked education materials while some others tore up textbooks and exercise books, said the teachers.
Panicked, the students of class two and three tried to flee their classrooms when they came under attack.
Besides slapping and jabbing the young kids, the intruders beat them up with cane, which they found in the teachers’ room, and three to four cricket bats they were carrying, the headmaster said.
Hearing the news, locals came out in their scores and scared away the attackers, Jamir Uddin, office-in-charge (OC) of Lalmonirhat Sadar Police Station, said confirming the attack.
The injured teachers and 20 students of class two and three took treatment at Khuniyagachh Union Health Complex.
“It was beyond our wild imagination that such little kids will come under attack at places like schools,” said an aggrieved Solaiman Ali, father of injured Ankhi Moni, a class two student.
President of the school managing committee, Mozammel Haq Sarker, filed a case against 65 people, mentioning the names of 44, with the local police station.
When contacted by The Daily Star, local Aminul Islam, who was named as the No. 1 accused, denied attacking the teachers and the students. “It’s true that we brought out a procession in support of hartal and passed by the school,” he said, claiming ignorance about the attack.
OC Jamir Uddin said they had already started conducting raids to arrest all the BNP men responsible for the attack.
Shrill cries of the innocent kids filled the air on Thursday morning as the intruders ran amok at Khuniyagachh Government Primary School in Lalmonirhat Sadar Upzila, vandalising the school and beating up teachers and at least 60 students of class two and three.
Their “crime” was continuing the classes amid hartal (shutdown).
It was around 10:45am when around 35 BNP men led by Khuniyagachh Union Parishad unit of BNP president Aminul Islam entered the school ground with a procession, Abdul Hye, headmaster of the school, told The Daily Star.
“After vandalising the main gate of the school, they yelled at me for keeping the school open defying hartal,” the headmaster said.
Some 10 of the intruders pinned him down and beat up in front of teachers and students, the teachers said.
They also beat up two female assistant teachers – Sabina Yasmin Kakuli and Taznin Akhter.
“We pleaded with them not to attack the kids but they won’t listen,” Kakuli said, adding that the intruders were carrying wooden and bamboo sticks, iron rod and sharp weapons.
Storming into the teachers’ room, some pro-hartal men vandalised furniture and ransacked education materials while some others tore up textbooks and exercise books, said the teachers.
Panicked, the students of class two and three tried to flee their classrooms when they came under attack.
Besides slapping and jabbing the young kids, the intruders beat them up with cane, which they found in the teachers’ room, and three to four cricket bats they were carrying, the headmaster said.
Hearing the news, locals came out in their scores and scared away the attackers, Jamir Uddin, office-in-charge (OC) of Lalmonirhat Sadar Police Station, said confirming the attack.
The injured teachers and 20 students of class two and three took treatment at Khuniyagachh Union Health Complex.
“It was beyond our wild imagination that such little kids will come under attack at places like schools,” said an aggrieved Solaiman Ali, father of injured Ankhi Moni, a class two student.
President of the school managing committee, Mozammel Haq Sarker, filed a case against 65 people, mentioning the names of 44, with the local police station.
When contacted by The Daily Star, local Aminul Islam, who was named as the No. 1 accused, denied attacking the teachers and the students. “It’s true that we brought out a procession in support of hartal and passed by the school,” he said, claiming ignorance about the attack.
OC Jamir Uddin said they had already started conducting raids to arrest all the BNP men responsible for the attack.
Courtesy: The Daily Star
