Two more lynched
In a span of three days, three people were killed in three identical incidents in Gazipur where all the victims were suspected to be kidnappers, all attacked by mobs, and all thought to be mentally imbalanced.
On Saturday, a 35-year-old woman was beaten to death in Kaliakoir. She was attacked by locals when a teenage girl took her to be a kidnapper and screamed for help after the victim entered the girl's house in the neighbourhood.
Just two days later, yesterday, an unidentified man and woman were killed by mobs in Konabari, both now thought to be mentally challenged.
Witnesses and police said people caught a man who “looked madâ€, suspecting him to be a kidnapper around 6:00am. They tied him to a tree and beat him. Later, he was taken near a garment factory when the workers slit his throat with a knife.
Police rescued him in a critical condition and took him to the sadar hospital and then to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he breathed his last.
Meanwhile, a disabled woman was beaten to death and allegedly set on fire by locals in front of a market in the presence of Bangladesh Ansar personnel.
Witnesses and police said she was sitting in front of a shop with a sack around 6:00am when a man asked her what was inside her sack and where she was from. The woman showed that she only had some biscuits, banana and a cold drink and replied that she was from Narayanganj. By that time, a mob had gathered around her and soon “some overenthusiastic people†started to beat her up. Throngs of people joined in until she was dead. To ensure her death, they set her body on fire.
Even though police and ansar members were present on the spot, they did not try to stop the incident. Ansar sepoy Mizanur Rahman said, “Hundreds of people beat her and set her on fire. We tried to disperse the crowd but failed.â€
Locals said there was a reigning fear in the area about kidnappers, which propelled people to take matters into their own hands.
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