Maimed by stalkers

Both legs of a mid-aged father were amputated after stalkers of his daughters assaulted him with iron bars and left him for dead.

Brother-in-law of the victim, Shahanur Alam, 52, father of three from Nalbhanga village of Kaliganj upazila in the district, filed a case in this connection on Sunday evening with the Jhenidah court.

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Shahanur's legs were amputated earlier that day at Dhaka Orthopaedics Hospital where he had been undergoing treatment since he was transferred there on October 31 from Jessore Medical College Hospital (JMCH).

Shahanur's brother in law, Eakub Ali of Dadpur village, said he had to file the case with the court after Kaliganj Police Station refused to record it there.

According to the case statement, the prime accused in the case is Kamal Hossain, secretary of Nalbhanga union Awami Jubo League as well as a UP member.

Kamal, along with six other accused -- Billal Hossain, Jahid Hossain, Imdadul Haque, Tuku Mia, Hasan Ali and Motaleb Hossain -- waylaid and attacked Shahanur on October 16 around 9:30am when Shahanur was out on some errands for his household.

Kamal and his gang were aggrieved and threatened to kill Shahanur after Shahanur complained to village leaders that the gang had been stalking his daughters -- Sharmin Aktar, 22, a student of  3rd year Honours in Bengali at Jessore Women's College and Shahnaz Aktar, 13, a seventh-grader at Nalbhanga Secondary School -- on their way to their educational institutions.  

On the day of the incident, the accused individuals attacked and beat up Shahanur indiscriminately with iron bars. Locals came to the rescue and sent an unconscious Shahanur to Jessore Medical College Hospital after the attackers left him, mistaken for dead, the case statement added.

The victim was transferred from JMCH to Dhaka Orthopaedics Hospital in a critical condition as the wounds on Shahanur's legs festered and signs of gangrene started to develop. The patient's legs were amputated on Sunday to save his life, said Dr Aminul Islam Pathan, who conducted the surgery at the DOH.

The doctors conducted another surgery yesterday morning to prevent further development of gangrene and they collected samples for biopsy, Shahanur's wife Arjina Begum said, quoting the physicians.

The entire family has been suffering immensely as she and her two daughters had been attending her husband in hospitals while her son, Mahinur Rahman, 17, went into hiding in fear of possible repercussions, she added.

The eldest daughter, Sharmin, said a group of people have been spreading rumours to demerit the case although her father did not have any affiliation with any political party or any enmity with anyone over any land dispute. 

Sharmin and her mother demanded exemplary punishment to the criminals.

Aminul Islam, officer-in-charge of Kaliganj Police Station, said he only heard about a quarrel in the village, but he was not informed of any "eve teasing".

He, however, said he already heard that Shahanur has lost his two legs.

He had asked Shahanur's family to file a case with the police station, but they filed the case with Jhenidah court instead, claimed the OC.

On Monday night police arrested two individuals named Azad Hossain and Likhon Mondol on suspicion of their involvement with the crime and they have been trying to apprehend the other criminals, he added.