At least 15 people were injured in a fierce clash between inhabitants of two villages in Tungipara upazila of Gopalganj over an incident of sexual harassment on Wednesday night.
Two of the injured, in critical condition, were rushed to Gopalganj General Hospital while the rest were taken to Tungipara Upazila Health Complex.
AKM Sultan Mahmud, officer-in-charge (OC) of Tungipara police station, confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune.
According to locals, the wife and daughters of one Litu Sheikh fell victim to catcalling by some youths from Sriramkandi area on Wednesday evening.
The incident took place at Patgati village in front of local people, who immediately caught the youths and punished them for their mistreatment of the woman and the girls.
Later, people from Sriramkandi village attacked the villagers of Patgati with brick chips and locally-made weapons.
The chase-counter chase continued for several hours, leaving 15, including journalists, injured. Three to four business establishments were vandalized during the clash and motorcycles were also damaged.
On receiving news of the incident, police arrived at the scene and had to fire 42 rounds of bullets to bring the situation under control.
Additional police personnel were deployed in the area to avert any untoward incident, OC AKM Sultan Mahmud said.
No complaint was filed with the police over the clash.