Juvenile victim of mass beating in police office

A 15-year-old teenager named Utsav Mandal was beaten up on social media Facebook for insulting the Holy Prophet (PBUH). Although it was initially said that the teenager, who was seriously injured in the thrashing, had died, the police did not confirm that information.

The incident took place at Sonadanga residential area of ​​Khulna on Wednesday around 12:15 pm.

Khulna Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (South) Mohammad Tajul Islam confirmed the truth of the incident and said that the boy who was seriously injured in the thrashing was taken away by the army and said that he is not sure whether the boy is dead or not.

However, even after calling the numbers of several officials including the spokesperson of the army camp in Khulna, their statements were not received.

Locals said that Utsav Mandal belongs to Hindu religion. Meanwhile, it is not clear what exactly was written in the Facebook status.

The police said that a case will be filed in this case on Thursday, the process is going on.

What happened in Khulna last night

Police officer Islam told the BBC that on Wednesday afternoon, some local madrassa students brought a teenager to the police office.

They allege that the boy has given a Facebook status insulting the Prophet of Islam.

Deputy Commissioner of Khulna Metropolitan Police Mohammad Tajul Islam said that they found the truth of the incident by interrogating the accused boy and checking his mobile phone. Then he said to the madrasa students who were angry, “Okay. According to the existing law, he will be tried, there will be a case.”

But the students did not agree to accept the proposal of the Deputy Commissioner. “Their demands should be judged according to their laws, not according to the existing laws of the country,” said Mohammad Tajul Islam. “They say give us five minutes. Hand over to us. Their conventional law is to kill. We cannot give that permission,” he said.

In the midst of this incident, the students informed the people of other Madrasahs. Along with this, the people of the Imam Association also gathered in front of the police commissioner's office.

Mohammad Tajul Islam was saying, from the afternoon slowly increasing to 10, 20 people, at one time hundreds of thousands of people gathered in front of the police commissioner's office. The excitement started to increase.

The police had a long argument with the complainants over handing over the teenager who was arrested for taunting on Facebook to the angry students. At some point in the evening, the army and navy arrived at the scene.

Police officer Mohammad Tajul Islam said that army, navy, local imam, Khulna University coordinators of anti-discrimination student movement, students of Khulna Engineering and Technology University also tried to convince the complainants. But those madrasah students are stubborn in their demands.

Then hundreds of people entered the police office in the presence of army and navy.

Mohammad Tajul Islam said, “Hundreds of people pushed into my office and beat him. They said he was dead. Then everyone slowly left.”

According to local correspondents, the students broke into the Deputy Commissioner's office around 11 pm and left around 12:30 pm.

Tajul Islam said that the boy was then taken away by the army. Kept in army custody.

There are different comments about whether the boy died in the lynching or not inside the Khulna Metropolitan Police office.

Although some local media reported that the boy who was beaten up died on the spot, there is no confirmation from the authorities. .

Khulna's local journalists said that the boy died in the local mosque's microphone at night.

Khulna Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Mr. witnessed the incident. Islam said he was 'not sure, confused'. “But we saw that he was taken away in a body bag. Whether he is alive or dead, I cannot say at this moment,” he added.

“There were only a few policemen there, everything was being handled by them (army). Now we are confused whether he is alive or dead. We could not communicate later,” he said.

Source: BBC

Bangladesh /OF