Two videos of a 26-year-old woman being tortured with a rope tied around her waist for allegedly stealing a mobile phone in Panchagarh’s Boda Upazila have gone viral on social media. The incident took place in a market of the upazila on Thursday morning.
The victim of torture is a resident of a village in Boda Upazila of Panchagarh. She is a mother of two children. The woman was staying at the van driver father’s house for quite some time due to a family dispute.
In two videos of 1 minute 12 seconds and 49 seconds that went viral on Facebook, a group of women are seen forcing a burqa-clad woman into a battery-powered van. The woman’s hair is messy. At that time some other women were arguing with that woman. A man wearing an orange T-shirt is tying the woman’s waist with a rope. Many men and women of different ages are crowding around. The victim was crying. Later, three other women sat on three sides of the woman in the van.
The men and women who were involved in an argument and tied up with ropes claimed that the woman had stolen a mobile phone from the house of one of her grandmothers (paternal aunt) and so she was tied up and taken home.
The younger sister of the tortured woman told Prothom Alo on the phone that they are poor people. Father runs the family by driving a van. They do human work. His sister has been in shambles ever since her second child was born by caesarean section. He heard that his sister went to his father’s aunt’s house yesterday and brought their one-button mobile phone. In this incident, some women including her father’s aunt’s son came and tied her sister with a rope. His sister was also tortured by being tied to a tree. Now his sister can’t get out of bed. He wants justice for this incident.
Local drug dealer. Habibullah said, yesterday Thursday morning, he suddenly heard the screams of several people. When he approached, he saw a woman being beaten and tied up in a van. The man who was tying the woman with a rope brought four or five women. When asked why this is being done, they said that the woman stole the mobile phone. He protested the torture of the woman but failed. Ignoring their objections, he recorded the incident on his mobile phone. He later posted the video on Facebook.
Chairman of the local union council. Mr. Ali said that he was called to the spot after calling yesterday saying that a woman had stolen a mobile phone. He could not go there due to his busy schedule. He does not know whether the woman was beaten or not.
Boda Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mozammel Haque told Prothom Alo over the phone that they saw the video on Facebook. The police have been sent to investigate the matter. No one has filed any complaint in this incident yet. Legal action will be taken on inquiry.
