14 sent to jail in Jhenidah

A Jhenidah court yesterday sent 14 people to jail for their alleged involvement in stalking two sisters and maiming their father for protesting the stalking in Kaliganj upazila of the district on October 16.

The accused surrendered before the court of Jhenidah Judicial Magistrate Kazi Ashrafuzzaman. The court sent them to jail, rejecting their bail prayers.

Earlier on Tuesday, a High Court (HC) bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Mohammad Ullah directed Jhenidah police to arrest the accused in two cases filed for stalking two girls and injuring their father Shahanur Alam, 52.

The court also asked Jhenidah superintendent of police and the officer-in-charge of Kaliganj Police Station to submit a report before the court in this regard by November 27.

The HC bench passed the order in a suo moto move following a report published by Bangla daily the Prothom Alo on Tuesday.

Locals, seeking anonymity, said frightened by the constant threat of the stalkers to withdraw the cases, one of the victims, a Class VII student, has stopped going to school.

The case statements said a gang allegedly led by UP member Kamal Hossain, secretary of Nalbhanga union unit Jubo League, waylaid Shahanur and beat him up with iron rods on October 16, as he complained to leaders of the village for stalking his daughters.

Shahanur's both legs had to be amputated at National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Nitor) in the capital on November 6.

Shahanur's brother-in-law Yakub Ali filed a case with the Jhenidah court on October 18 after Kaliganj police refused to record it.

On November 9, Shahanur's brother Shamaul Islam filed another case against 16 people with Kaliganj Police Station for attempted murder.