ATTACK ON MINORITIES, KILLING BABY IN MOTHER’S WOMB : 8 AL activists detained

The police on Friday arrested eight ruling Awami League activists on charge of attacking religious minorities at Mathiara village of Feni sadar upazila and killing a baby in mother’s womb on October 28.
Feni senior judicial magistrate Sheikh Md Badiul Alam sent the arrested – Alamgir Hossain Babu, Jahangir Alam, Jakir Hossain, Quazi Nur Hossain, Saddam Hossain, Amir Hossain, Riyaz Uddin and Jahangir Alam Sumon of the same area – to jail.
Feni model police station officer-in-charge Mahbub Morshed said that they produced the arrested AL men before the court seeking them to be remanded in police custody for five days for interrogation.
He said that the court posted for November 22 the next hearing in the case and would set a date for hearing on the remand petition after reopening of the court on Sunday.
Affected people alleged that some AL activists on October 28 attacked the minority community at the village over fireworks following Lakshmi Puja.
As 7-month pregnant woman Tulshi Rani Das tried to save her husband, the attackers kicked her in the lower abdomen causing severe bleeding and immediately Tulshi gave birth to dead baby, they said.
At least 10 Hindu people were injured in the attack, they alleged, adding that Tulshi was rushed to Feni Sadar Hospital.
The hospital’s resident medical officer Ashim Kumar Saha said that Tulshi’s condition was improving but she was not out of danger.
Jahar Lal Das, one of the affected people, lodged a case with Feni model police station naming 17 people.
Panchgachhia union parishad chairman Anwar Hossain Manik, also a local AL leader, claimed that the incident took place because of ‘misunderstanding’ and all the accused were aged below 15.
District Janmastami Parishad general secretary Rashik Shekhar said that the local miscreants having identity of the ruling party committed the planned attack and the innocent families could have been saved had police taken immediate steps.