In another incident of atrocities on religious minorities in Islamic majority country Bangladesh, one Hindu man was beaten just because he didn’t buy from a shop owned by a municipal councillor. The incident happened in Kaliganj in Jhenaidah district in Bangladesh.
According to reports, van driver Sonatan Das was badly injured after he was beaten by Faizur Rahman Chunnu, a municipal councillor who also owns a hardware store. Das told media that on 3rd June, he was asked to buy 20 bags of cement from Kaliganj market by his sister. Along with this, he was also asked to pay 20,000 Taka to the Shishir Kana enterprise owned by the councillor which was due to be paid for some earlier purchase. Accordingly, he paid the due amount, but as they were quoting higher price for cement, he didn’t buy there and bought the cement from a nearby shop and returned home. This was spotted by Faizur who was at his shop at that moment.
When in the evening Sonatan went towards the market, he was called by Faizur to the warehouse behind his, and there he was badly beaten by Faizur. He said that he was punished for not purchasing cement from the Councilor’s shop. After Sonatan as badly injured due to the attack, Faizur threw him out of his shop and asked to leave the spot.
‘Public representatives are supposed to be friends of people. Will they attack innocent people like me for not purchasing from their shop? I want justice for this,’ Das said. His sister Laxmi Rani has also demanded a proper probe into the incident.
Surprisingly, when councillor Faizur Rahman was contacted by media on the incident, he confirmed the incident. He said that Sonatan’s sister is his friend, and he was to receive due amount from him. ‘I felt bad when he bought cement from another shop. As he is my friend’s brother, I took him to behind the shop and hit him with sticks few times,’ he said.
Police officials of Kaliganj police station said that they have heard about the incident, and they will take quick action if the victims lodge a complaint.