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Published : 02 Nov 2016, 03:38 PM
Cases filed over Brahmanbarhia Hindu temple attack accuse over 1,000 persons
Police were silent during attack on temples, homes in Brahmanbarhia, Hindus say
Three panels formed to probe attacks on Hindu temples, houses in Brahmanbarhia
At least 15 temples, 100 Hindu houses vandalised, looted for hours in Brahmanbarhia
OC Abdul Kader was removed on Wednesday noon because of ‘administrative lapses’, said Superintendent of Police (SP) Mizanur Rahman.
Fifteen temples and more than one hundred Hindu homes at Nasirnagar were looted and set on fire on Sunday over an alleged Facebook post insulting Islam.
The district unit of the ruling Awami League demanded the removal of OC Abdul and Upazila Executive Officer Moazzem Ahmed for failing to contain the violence.
“OC Abdul Kader has been temporarily removed for the sake of a fair investigation,” said SP Mizanur.
Two cases were started in the wake of the devastation on Monday morning. A thousand to 1,200 attackers were accused in each of the cases, said Assistant Superintendent of Police Abdul Karim of Brahmanbaria Sadar Circle.
Nine have been arrested over the two cases, he said.
The district police, Police Headquarters and district administration have each formed a probe committee. A delegation from the Awami League has visited the site of the attack.
A purported Facebook post by one Rasraj Das, son of Jagannath Das at Haripur Union’s Harinberh village, sparked the incident, according to locals.
Police on Saturday arrested Rasraj for ‘denigrating Islam’ through his post on the social media. A court then ordered him into prison.
A protest was organised at Nasirnagar and Brahmanbarhia on Sunday under the banner of ‘Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat’. Similar protests were called in Habiganj’s Madhabpur.
A group of madrasa students demanded punishment of Rasraj from a demonstration outside the Brahmanbarhia Press Club at Sunday noon, while several hundred people blocked the Sarail-Nasirnagar-Lakhai road and burned tyres on it.
A group armed with locally-made weapons left the demonstration and attacked Duttaparha, Namashudraparha and Ghoshparha, and Jagannath Temple and Goura Temple at Nasirnagar Sadar, Brahmanbarhia SP Mizanur said quoting witnesses.
They also attacked homes at Duttparha, Ghoshparha, Gangkulparha, Mohakal Parha, Kashiparha, Namashudraparha, Maliparha and Shilparha.
More than 150 homes were vandalised besides the temples, said Haripada Poddar, General Secretary of the Puja celebration council at Nasirnagar Upazila.
At least 20 people including several temple devotees were left wounded in the attack, according to Adesh Deb, chief of the Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council at the Upazila.
In January, a music college named after the renowned composer and music teacher Ustad Alauddin Khan was vandalised in the district following the death of a madrasa student.
