Three Injured in Attack Outside Ansar Clinic in Jhenaidah's Kaliganj; Jamaat Blamed

Leaders and activists of Jamaat have been accused of beating and hacking three people over a trivial incident at a clinic in Kaliganj, Jhenaidah.

The incident took place at around 9pm on Wednesday (11 November) in front of Ansar Clinic in the Murgi Hat area of the town.

The injured are Ansar Clinic owner Alamgir Hossain, Toufiq, joint general secretary of Chhatra Dal in municipal ward No. 2, and Mahabur Rahman. Each of them received three to four stitches to the head.

Local residents said that at around 8:30pm on Wednesday, a boy named Jyoti had an argument with another named Tuhin in the Murgi Hat area. The matter was then settled on the spot. Clinic owner Alamgir Hossain was present at the time.

Afterwards, Nazim Biswas, Jamaat's councillor candidate for municipal ward No. 2, arrived at the scene. He phoned several people and asked them to come. According to locals, 10 to 15 Jamaat leaders and activists soon arrived with sticks and machetes from the office of Jamaat MP Abu Talib near the clinic, and beat and hacked the three men.

Locals also said two Jamaat activists chased one man into the clinic and beat him in front of a patient. Panic spread among patients and relatives at the time. Local residents later rescued the injured and took them to Kaliganj Upazila Health Complex.

A young man named Tuhin Hossain said the argument at night was over Jyoti, a boy from the Collegepara area, looking at him askance. Everything was then settled and he left the place. He said they had not even spoken to the Jamaat leaders and activists; the men arrived suddenly and attacked them.

Injured clinic owner Alamgir Hossain said he had been sitting at a shop in front of the clinic, drinking tea. Suddenly two young men were arguing; he separated the two sides. Later Jamaat's Nazim arrived, phoned several people to come and began the beating. One man was hit on the head with a brick and another was hacked with a machete. He said he would file a case with the police station over the incident.

Marufa Begum, a caesarean patient admitted to the hospital, said her caesarean operation had taken place three days earlier. Suddenly at night two men entered the hospital and beat a man; her newborn began crying at the time.

When Jamaat-nominated ward No. 2 councillor candidate Nazim Biswas was phoned for comment, on learning the caller was a journalist he said guests had come to his house and that he would speak later, and hung up.

Abdul Hoq Molla, amir of Kaliganj upazila Jamaat, said he had heard about the fight. He was not yet sure who had carried out the attack. If anyone from Jamaat had done so, action would be taken against them after an investigation, he said.

Kaliganj police station officer-in-charge Zulfikar Ali said the three injured men had come to the station. If they filed a written complaint, action would certainly be taken after an investigation.