Beaten by headmaster, 3 girls hospitalised

The headmaster of Golapganj High School in Birganj upazila under the district was suspended following a public outrage over mercilessly beating three female students yesterday.

The three girls, all Class VIII students of the school, were admitted to Birganj Upazila Health Complex, as they were injured due to the beating.

They are Momotaj Parvin Borsha, 14, daughter of Sajedul Islam of Satkhamar village, Shanta Islam, 13, daughter of Rafiqul Islam of Chhiraraju village, and Tanjila Akter, 14, daughter of Ziarul Islam of Debipur village.

They had serious injury marks, said Dr Nurul Aziz, medical officer of the health complex.

After going to Class VIII yesterday, headmaster Sahidul Haque called Momotaj in front of his table and asked her a question, witnesses said.

As the girl failed to answer, headmaster Sahidul Haque started beating her on both legs. Then he made her kneel down outside the classroom.

Later the teacher called her in the classroom again, but she was unable to walk due to pain.

"Then the headmaster again started beating her. As our classmates Shanta and Tanjila protested the beating, the teacher also started beating them with the stick," said Mamun, a student of the same class.

Informed by other friends, parents of the three girls came to school and took them to Birganj Upazila Health Complex.

As the news spread, hundreds of people of surrounding villages thronged in front of the school at noon.

They seriously protested the incident and demanded removal of the headmaster.

Around 4:30pm, Birganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Russell Monjur assured the locals that the teacher would be suspended.

The UNO accompanied by Birganj Police Station Officer in Charge (OC) Jahangir Alam took the headmaster to the police station.

"We brought him to the police station for his safety," said OC Jahangir Alam.

The headmaster has already been suspended, said Shudhansu Shekhar, president of the school managing committee.

A five-member probe team led by Shudhansu Shekhar has been formed to investigate the incident.