Even though more than 24 hours have passed, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police are yet to take any action to arrest or identify the people who beat up a photojournalist on Thursday for protesting against reckless driving.
Officer-in-Charge of Dhanmondi police Nur-e-Azam yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that when the victim had called him soon after the incident, Azam suggested that the victim files a written complaint so that they could investigate the matter.
However, visiting the police station yesterday afternoon it was learnt that no police official had been assigned to deal with the probe though a general diary was filed the same day.
Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo, a photojournalist at The Daily Star, and his friend were on their way to office on a rickshaw through Dhanmondi 10/A when a black Mitsubishi outlander (Dhaka Metro Gha – 13-9283) hit a rickshaw van on Thursday afternoon. Later the driver started beating up the injured van puller. As Apurbo protested the assault, the SUV driver beat him up too.
“At that time, another person pushed me to the road, and the car owner started kicking and punching me along with his man. Soon another man and a boy, who could be seven to eight years old, joined them in the beating,” Apurbo said.
Within seconds, a mob joined them. The indiscriminate torture stopped only when the photojournalist managed to show his ID card. Seeing the card, a woman, who was in the SUV, got down and stopped the mob before fleeing the scene quickly.
Apurbo also took a photo of the SUV and its number plate. He also filed a general diary with Dhanmondi police around 3:50pm the same day.
