Police have arrested a teenage boy in Habiganj for physically assaulting a schoolgirl last week and uploading its video to Facebook.
He was detained at Richi in Habiganj suburb area yesterday afternoon by local people, who later handed him over to Sadar police.
The assault took place on August 26 around 4pm near Habiganj Girls’ High School, where the victim is a student of Class VIII.
Witnesses said the boy, a student of Class XI in Habiganj High School and College, stopped her near her school gate after school broke for the day and beat her in public, his friends looking on and one of them filmed it on his mobile phone.
The 24-second video was uploaded on Facebook a week later, on Thursday. It showed the boy repeatedly slapping the girl and calling her names.
The incident sparked outrage across Habiganj town – locals formed a human chain in Town Hall area yesterday morning to protest the assault and demand justice for the victim.
Sources close to the victim’s family said the boy had been harassing her for a long time, and her father had complained to his family about him several times.
However, the detained boy, before he was taken away to the police station, said he was in a relationship with the victim and had a fight with her, which is why he beat her.
But he claimed he did not know about his friends filming the assault or uploading the video on Facebook.
No complaint about the harassment or the assault has been filed with police yet, said OC Nazim Uddin of Sadar police station.
“We are interrogating the boy. Others involved will be arrested soon,” he told the Dhaka Tribune, declining to comment further.
