Thakurgaon
2 children drown in Thakurgaon pond
Two minor children drowned in a pond at Haripur in Thakurgaon on Sunday morning.
The deceased were identified as Rumin Islam, 6, and his cousin Shova Aktar, 4, of Bhabanipur Modhudanga village of the upazila.
Also read: 3-yr-old cousins drown in Brahmanbaria
The two children fell into the pond while playing around 9am, said Tajul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Haripur police station.
Local people found the floating bodies of the two children after looking for them for an hour.
A case was filed at the police station in this regard, said the OC.
Also read: Rohingya boy drowns in Bay of Bengal
55-yr-old woman killed in Thakurgaon road crash
A 55-year-old woman who was injured being hit by a motorbike at Ruhia in Thakurgaon sadar upazila on Friday died at a hospital Saturday afternoon .
The deceased was identified as Salma Begum, wife of Liaquat Ali of Paschim Kujishahar village of Sadar upazila.
Salma was seriously injured as a motorbike hit her in front of Majlum Master's Husking Mill in the area around 5pm on Friday.
READ: School teacher killed in Cox’s Bazar road crash
She was rushed her to Thakurgaon Adhunik Sadar Hospital where she died the on Saturday afternoon.
Officer-in-Charge Chittaranjan Roy of Ruhia Police Station said no one has lodged any complaint yet. Necessary action will be taken if they receive a written complaint.
Municipality councilor held for attempt to steal motorcycle in Thakurgaon
Police have arrested a municipality councilor of Ranishankail upazila of Thakurgaon who was held by locals during his bid to steal a motorcycle from a mosque in Pirganj upazila.
The arrestee is Abdur Razzak, 43, a councilor of ward 6 of Ranishankail municipality and a resident of Bhandara village.
According to police, Abdus Razzak was held by the locals at Baitul Aman (Belayet) Mosque in Pirganj upazila when he was trying to flee with a stolen motorcycle during the Tarabi prayers on Saturday night.
READ: DNCC driver arrested over death of motorcycle passenger
The stolen motorcycle was reportedly set ablaze by some agitated locals and a person was injured.
Pirganj police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Jahangir Alam said Abdur Razzak is the leader of a motorcycle theft gang in the district. He is accused in 45 cases of motorcycle theft filed at different police stations, he said.
During preliminary interrogation, he confessed to involvement in the theft. Razzak will be sent to court on Sunday, the OC said.
Bestial husband on the run after shaving wife's head
A 42-year-old man allegedly tortured his wife by forcibly shaving her head - over the extremely trivial and mundane matter of finding some strands of hair in his meal - a common enough occurrence throughout the length and breadth of the country.
The atrocious conduct on the part of a husband has been reported from Dholarhat union in Sadar upazila of Thakurgaon, in the village of Madhabpur Naoapara.
Also read: Boy tied to tree, tortured in Lalmonirhat; one held
Earlier on April 7, Ehsan Mamun, the husband, was accused of torturing his wife with a bamboo twig. He has done this to his wife many times before, confirmed local Union Parishad (UP) member Hossain Ali.
After the shaving incident, the locals rescued the victim and admitted her to the local hospital. Ehsan has been on the run since then.
“This time I advised his wife to seek legal action,” said UP member Mahi.
Chitta Ranjan Roy, officer-in-charge (OC) of Ruhia Police Station, confirmed the victim has indeed filed a case in this regard this time. “Currently an operation is on to nab the accused husband," the OC adds.
Meanwhile, the victim alleged that throughout their 13-year marriage, Mamun subjected her to inhumane torture over all sorts of trivial matters, and for dowry. Under the pretext of dowry, Ehsan has taken large sums of money from his in-laws.
“Now he again tortured me when I refused to bring him dowry money," the wife alleges.
She further said that Mamun is threatening her to withdraw the case. If she doesn't, he would kill her and her (and his!) two children, acording to the threat.
Gender-based violence in Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, women and girls are facing growing violence in every stage of their lives as society thinks it is not that much of a serious issue.
According to a report of Human Rights Watch (HRW), this crisis comes as Bangladesh enters the final phase of its national plan to build “a society without violence against women and children by 2025.”
Also read:Housewife tortured to death over dowry in Sylhet
HRW reports a 70 percent increase in reported incidents like violence on women and girls since the start of the pandemic, and this does not account for the incidents that were not reported.
According to Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a human rights group based in Bangladesh, at least 235 women were murdered by their husband or in laws in just the first nine months of 2020.
Van driver's daughter cracks MBBS test: UZ chairman takes responsibility
Alpana Akter, the daughter of a van driver who aced the MBBS entrance exam at Mymensingh Medical College, will not have to burden her father with funding her education as she chases her dream of becoming a doctor.
Aslam Jewel, chairman of her upazila parishad in Baliadangi, has stepped forward to take the responsibility of putting her through medical school.
Also read: Thakurgaon van driver's daughter cracks MBBS test, but father has no money for fees
The upazila chairman, also general secretary of Baliadangi upazila Jubo League, announced this after visiting Alpana's home on Monday night. He also handed over some initial financial assistance to Alpana’s father Aftabar Rahman.
Aslam Jewel on Tuesday told UNB: “We are proud of Alpana as she has got a chance in the medical college. As a representative of the people, I took responsibility for her study. I will bear all the expenses of her medical college study.”
Alpana, a resident of Dharia Belsara village in Baliadangi upazila, said she wants to pursue her dream without putting any further pressure on her father, who is struggling to make ends meet for the family. "Already, he has done a lot for me and my siblings," she added.
It is true. Aftabar, the father, may be near the end of his tether now, but his is a story of admirable parenthood, for the way he has prioritised education for his three children.
"First, I sold a portion of my farmland to bear the admission expenses of my son, who got a chance to study at Dhaka University. Later, I had to sell the rest of the land to fund his studies. Now, I have nothing but a homestead," he said.
His son Munna is a fourth-year student of Dhaka University's Bangla department.
"I still have to send him Tk 4,000 a month," Aftabur discloses, which is probably more to do with living expenses even as a student in the capital.
The youngest sibling, another daughter, is a student of Class XII.
Also read:Thakurgaon farmers fear crops loss after hailstorm
"Alpana has made a penniless father proud. But now I am helpless, and not in a position to fund her opportunity to pursue medical education at Mymensingh Medical College from my meagre income,"Aftabar laments.
It now falls on society, amid all the increases in per capita income, etc, to step forward and complement the efforts of parents such as Aftabur.
The effort they have expended till now must not go in vain.
Thakurgaon van driver's daughter cracks MBBS test, but father has no money for fees
Born to a family of a poor van driver in Thakurgaon, Alpana faced difficult times growing up. Braving all odds though, she managed to crack this year's MBBS admission test.
But the teenager's struggles are unlikely to end soon as her father, Aftabar Rahman, has expressed his inability to fund her medical education -- literally a luxury for even the middle-class in Bangladesh.
"I want to pursue my dream without putting any pressure on my father, who's struggling to make both ends meet. Already, he has done a lot for me and my three siblings," Alpana, a resident of Dharia Belsara village in Baliadangi upazila, told UNB.
Also read: Khulna’s Meem tops them all in MBBS admission test
Man arrested for raping minor sister-in-law in Thakurgaon
Police arrested a man on Sunday on charge of raping his sister-in-law, a 7th grader, in Singpara village in Thakurgaon Sadar upazila.
The arrestee was identified as Sumon,27, son of Abdur Sabur from Singpara village in Salandar union.
Sumon was arrested after a rape case was filed at sadar police station following the complaint of the girl’s father earlier in the day.
Also read:Sunamganj pharmacy owner, 2 others sliced woman’s body after rape: CID
According to the complaint, Sumon was married to the plaintiff’s elder daughter three years ago. The couple has a 2-year-old daughter.
On February 10, the plaintiff went to visit his son-in-law along with his younger daughter. The girl stayed back even though the father returned home.
Later that night Sumon allegedly raped the girl covering her mouth with a scarf. When she fell sick and informed the family, they took her to Thakurgaon General Hospital.
Also read: Aunt, niece raped in Ctg, 2 held
Inspector Parvin Begum, Investigation Officer in the case said the accused was arrested immediately after filing of the case and was sent to jail by the court.
Rare red coral kukri snake rescued in Thakurgaon
A red coral kukri snake was rescued by local residents from the Bara Balia area of Thakurgaon Sadar upazila on Thursday night.
"Instead of killing the snake, a local resident, Jaynal, informed the forest department," said Sahidul Islam, Wildlife Conservator and Rescuer.
Read: Rescued python released in Sundarbans
Md Mahbubur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Thakurgaon district, said the snake "is safe in the custody of the district authorities".
According to researchers, this rare mild venomous snake was spotted not more than 30 times across the world.
In a span of three months last year, this snake was spotted five times in the northern district of Panchagarh in Bangladesh.
On February 7, 2021, for the first time, the first one was found in an injured condition in Panchagarh. Then again on February 26, a dead one was found in Chaklahat.
On April 20, a third one was found alive and the fourth one on May 10 was found dead in the same district last year.
Read: 12ft-long python rescued in Bagerhat
According to an Indian media report, this rare snake was first spotted in the Lakhimpur Kheri area of Uttar Pradesh state in 1936 from where it got its scientific name ‘Oligodon kheriensis’.
The suffix ‘kukri’ in its name comes from kukri or curved knife of the Gorkhas as its teeth are curved like the blade of the weapon.
It has been spotted a few times in India's hilly state of Uttarakhand.
Schoolgirl gang raped in Thakurgaon
A 9th grade school girl was gang raped Tuesday in Dholarhat of Thakurgaon Sadar Upazila.
The incident occurred in Haragachh village of Dholarhat union when the girl went to meet her boyfriend.
The victim alleged that her boyfriend, Sujan, a 10th grade student of Islamnagar High School and resident of Debiganj village, and 4-5 others including Ashraful and Biplob raped her. Sujan took her to a chicken farm away from her house where his companions were waiting. Afterwards they left her unconscious near her house at midnight, she said.
READ: 30-year-old rapes schoolgirl in Magura, held
Her father said that at around 1.30 am he heard his daughter crying in the yard. He came out of the house and found her bleeding. He also saw several wound marks on her body.
That night, the victim was taken to a local doctor and a union parishad member was informed about the incident, her father said.
Officer-in-charge (OC) of Ruhia Police Station Chittaranjan Roy said he had not received any written complaint from the family yet.
However, the crime scene was identified according to the victim’s description. The victim's medical examination was also completed on Wednesday and attempts were being made to identify the accused, the OC said.
READ: Man to die for killing woman after rape in Ctg
Meanwhile, victim's brother-in-law Sohel Rana said that the family was preparing to file an abduction and rape case.
3 journos injured while reporting on UP polls in Thakurgaon
Three journalists were seriously injured by some miscreants on Saturday while collecting news on upcoming UP elections in Thakurgaon.
The injured journalists are Tanvir Hossain Tanu, district correspondent of Independent television, Mainuddin Talukdar Himel, correspondent for RisingBD website, and Sohel Rana, correspondent of NewsBangla24 and Doinik Bhorer Akash.
According to witnesses, ahead of the Senua Union Parishad set to be held on February 7, candidate Motiur Rahman was conducting his election campaign in Molankhur Mandalpara.
Also read: Pre-poll violence: 1 killed, 12 hurt in Jamalpur
At one point some supporters of his rival candidate attacked the campaigners with arms and as the journalists went to take photos, the miscreants beat them up.
The journalists said their cameras, mobile phones were broken and moneybags were snatched during the attack.
Locals and other journalists rescued the three journalists and admitted them to Thakurgaon General Hospital.
Also read: Pre-poll violence leaves 3 injured in Ctg
Rakibul Alam Chayan, Resident Medical Officer of the hospital, said the injured received primary medications and further treatments will be provided after examining their physical condition.