Assaulted for protesting gambling
Female UP member, husband injured
Gamblers assaulted a female member of a union parishad, and her husband, for protesting against their illegal activity in Singergari of Nilphamari's Kishoreganj yesterday.
Yesterday morning, the gamblers arranged a gambling party in a remote bamboo cluster in Singergari village of Magura union. Seeing their activity, UP member Anjuara Begum called in the police.
By the time Kishoreganj police reached the spot, the gamblers fled the scene leaving behind a roulette and other materials.
After police left the village, around 20 gamblers, led by Mizanur Rahman, 35, attacked and assaulted the UP member and her husband in their home.
The couple is in Kishoreganj Upazila Health Complex.
The attackers also ransacked their house, looted money, and damaged household appliances and a motorbike.
Police again rushed to the spot and charged truncheons on the gamblers. Chases and counter-chases continued for half an hour, after which the gamblers fled again.
Anjuara filed a case with Kishoreganj Police Station accusing Mizanur and 20 others of assault.
In the case, she alleged that the criminals had been repeatedly sending them death threats.
Elected as a member from reserved female seat constituting ward-7, 8 and 9 of the union in 2015, Anjuara, 28, wife of Chad Mia, 37, has constantly spoken against the illegal activity and had even been successful in reducing gambling in her area. She had also arranged awareness campaigns, in which she requested parents to monitor school and college-going children.
When talking to The Daily Star at the upazila health complex, Anjuara said that a group of gamblers were regularly arranging gambling parties inside bamboo clusters and under bridges in the area. They also lure in youths from the locality to take part in the illegal activity.
Theft, mugging and other crimes have increased in the area as a consequence, as gamblers make desperate attempts to arrange money to join the games.
Officer-in-Charge Bazlur Rashid of Kishoreganj Police Station said the criminals have been identified and the raid to arrest them was underway.