Theft Allegation: N’ganj mayor humiliates 3 children in public

A municipal mayor in Narayanganj's Araihazar upazila publicly shamed three children by cutting their hair after accusing them of theft.

The children, between the ages of seven and 11, are students of a local madrasa, said their guardians.

Halim Sikder, mayor of Gopaldi Municipality, was shifting his textile factory in Ramchondradi Bazar. Some machine parts were kept scattered on its premises.

The children were playing in front of the factory and found a metal chain. When the mayor saw them with it, he got furious, said witnesses.

He tied their hands, took them to the Ramchondradi Bus Stand area and cut their hair, reports our local correspondent, quoting witnesses.

The father of one of the children, who is an imam of a mosque, told The Daily Star that he was not home when the incident happened.

"Hearing of the incident, I went to the mayor's house, and family members of the other two children were also present there. We begged pardon, but the mayor didn't hear us. He cut our children's hair in public," said the imam.

"The children might have picked up the chain lying on the ground and the mayor could have solved it by calling the guardians. The children were detained for more than two and a half hours. We apologised to the mayor but he did not listen to us."

"Now the mayor's men threatened us not to talk about this incident to anyone. They are powerful people, we can't go against them," the imam also said.

Halim is also the joint secretary of Awami League's Araihazar upazila unit.

Contacted, he admitted to "punishing" the children. "They stole my goods, that's why I punished them a little. I did nothing wrong," he told The Daily Star.

Araihazar Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Azizul Haq said they heard about the incident. Though the families did not file any complaints yet but police are working on it.

Ishtiak Ahmed, UNO of Araihazar upazila, said the local administration will take necessary steps after the investigation.