A teenager named Al Amin, 17, was tied to a tree and beaten by a group of people in Dhamrai, Dhaka, over allegations of stealing a mobile phone.
The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon in Charipara Adarsha village under Gangutia Union of the upazila.
According to eyewitnesses, the victim and locals, an Android phone went missing from the house of a man named Quddus early Friday. After failing to find the device, Quddus and others went to Al Amin’s house, beat him, took him to their residence, tied him to a tree and continued beating him.
At one stage, Al Amin confessed to stealing the phone and selling it to someone in the area. Locals later recovered the device from the buyer. He was released in the evening in the presence of local dignitaries.
Meanwhile, a video of the incident has gone viral on Facebook, showing the teenager tied to a tree and beaten by several men.
Al Amin said that around 12:30pm, Quddus, his father Rauf and another man confronted him about the missing phone. When he failed to respond, they hit him with a piece of wood, dragged him to Quddus’s house, tied him to a tree with a rope and beat him for about an hour. After the phone was recovered in the afternoon, he was handed over to his mother.
“My son did wrong; I would have reported him to the police. But the way they beat him is inhumane. I want justice,” Al Amin’s mother said.
Dhamrai Police Station Inspector (OC-Operations) Debashish Saha said, “I have seen the video. However, no complaint has been filed yet. If a complaint is received, legal action will be taken.”
