UZ chairman sued over assault on female lawyer

A female lawyer of Patuakhali’s Galachipa upazila yesterday sued the upazila chairman for assaulting her on Thursday.

 Umme Asma Akhi, a lawyer at Galachipa upazila judicial magistrate court, filed the case with Galachipa Police Station alleging that upazila Chairman Shahin Shah also threatened to kill her father-in-law Dulal Chowdhury.

Dulal, who is also the chairman of Kalagachhia Union Parishad in the upazila, told The Daily Star that Shahin called him on Thursday noon and asked him to come over to his office to settle a complaint against him.

During the conversation, Shahin, who is also the organising secretary of Galachipa Awami League, told Dulal that one Abdul Latif, along with some locals, came to the upazila parishad office with some dead fish and claimed that Dulal’s men had poisoned his pond.

As he refused to go their citing illness, Shahin got infuriated and threatened to kill him, Dulal added.

Later, Shahin stopped Akhi in front of the upazila parishad office on her way to the court and assaulted her, said the victim at a press conference yesterday afternoon.

“What the upazila chairman done to me is unacceptable,” Akhi told journalists. She demanded justice for the chairman’s offence.

Shahin, at a separate press conference organised at upazila parishad office yesterday, however, denied the allegation of assault.

Galachipa OC Akhter Morshed said they would take steps in this regard after investigation.