Quran desecration rumour: 3 held in Lalmonirhat
Three persons have already been arrested regarding the lynching and burning a youth to death spreading rumour of desecrating the Holy Quran at Patgram in Lalmonirhat.
Besides, the Lalmonirhat district administration has formed a three-member committee to research the incident with additional district magistrate as head. The committee has been asked to submit report by Sunday.
However, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police has launched a study to find out who were involved with spreading rumour of desecration of the Holy Quran.
After Asr prayer on Thursday (October 29), angry mob beat one man to death at the Burimari Bazar Central Jame Mosque in Lalmonirhat district, and burnt his body.
The slain Shahidunnabi Jewel was the son of Abdul Wazed Mia of Shalbon Mistrypara area in Rangpur city. He was the former librarian at Rangpur Cantonment Public School and College and a former student of the Department of Library Science of Dhaka University.
The 35-year-old Jewel was reportedly fighting psychological problems after he recently lost his job as a librarian at Rangpur Cantonment Public School and College.
Police and locals said Shahidunnabi Jewel found visit Burimari together with his companion Sultan Jobayer on Thursday afternoon. They offered Asr prayer at Burimari Central Jame Mosque in the afternoon.
Following the prayer, he was taking off a copy of holy Quran continued sunlight shed. Mistakenly, some copies of Quran and Hadith fell on his feet. In those days, Jewel found the holy Quran and kissed them. But, the muezzin of the mosque got in an altercation with him over the problem. Afterward, some persons from nearby area found the mosque and dragged both Jewel and Jobayer out of your mosque. They confined them to an area of a local union parishad building.
A rumour had spread in the evening that two teenagers were nabbed and detained for desecration of the Holy Quran. Being furious, the angry mob snatched Jewel breaking the entranceway of the union parishad building and beat him to death. Later, the angry mob dragged Jewel's dead body to the Patgram-Burimari highway where his body burnt into ashes. They also chanted slogans blocking the highway with burning tyres.
Patgram and Hatibandha police, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel tried to bring the situation in order from the evening, but almost all their efforts went in vain. In those days, 10 policemen including Patgram Police Station officer-in-charge (OC) Sumanta Kumar Mohonta were injured in the brickbats hurled by agitated mob. Police fired 17 rounds of bullet to disperse the mob.
Lalmonirhat deputy commissioner Abu Zafar and Police Super Abida Sultana reached the spot at about 10:30pm with additional police. By that time the situation came in order. Police admitted Jewel's critically injured friend Jobayer to a hospital. Additional police force was deployed at the area. Besides, the RAB has strengthened their occurrence on the spot.
Patgram Police Station OC Sumanta Kumar Mohonta said three separate cases have already been filed by the slain Jewel's family, attack on police and vandalising the union parishad building. Police are also trying to identify the culprits.
