17 firefighters punished for assaulting freedom fighter

Station in-charge of Parbatipur Fire Station in the district was suspended while 16 other firefighters were stand released yesterday on charge of assaulting a freedom fighter in the upazila on Sunday.

They are suspended officer Anwarul Haque, firefighters Rummon Kayes, Abu Taher, Ujjal Kumar Roy, Pushpo Kumar Roy, Nihar Ranjan, Mansur Ali, Mizanur Rahman, Abdul Khaleque, Ataur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Shahinul Islam, Tanzinul Islam, Moksedul Rahman, Saiful Islam, Russel Ali and Abul Hasnat.

Copy of the order that reached the station office in the afternoon asked the accused to leave the station by yesterday to the mentioned stations in Rangpur.

Earlier on the day, Samarendra Nath Biswas, deputy director of Rangpur Divisional Fire Station, accompanied by Upazila Nirbahi Officer Rahenul Islam, visited the fire station in Parbatipur upazila after receiving a complaint from freedom fighter Abdul Hadi. 

Abdul Hadi uprooted an arum plant from Parbatipur Fire Station complex on Sunday. Later, the station in-charge and the firefighters allegedly assaulted him for uprooting the plant without their permission. Locals later rescued him.

Protesting the incident, local people besieged the fire station on Sunday night.