Veteran Hindu poet Saroj Deb (74) was attacked & beaten by Sazzad Hossain (35) and his gang at the poet’s home at Gaibandha district headquarter town of northern Bangladesh, Bengali-language news outlet NTV has reported.
“At that time, poet Saroj Deb was staying at his house in the eastern part of Gaibandha town. Local Sazzad Hossain & his gang entered poet’s home with weapons around 9:30 am on Friday. The men then kept looking for the poet’s son Shuvomoy Deb Joy while continuously mouthing abuses. When Saroj Deb protested, they attacked him. When his daughter-in-law came forward to save the poet, she was also attacked. The poet then filed a case at the local police station in this connection.” the report added.
Saroj Deb told Bangladeshi national daily newspaper, The Daily Star Bangla, “Sazzad threw me to the ground. He did not listen to my pleas to stop beating me. Later, when he wanted to hit me on the head with an iron rod, I stopped it with my hand. As a result my hand was injured and started bleeding. When I went to the police station in the afternoon after having treatment at the hospital, the police initially did not want to take the case. Under the pressure of higher authorities, finally police registered the case.”
When The Daily Star Bangla asked why police did not want to register the case initially, the Officer-in-charge (OC) of the police station said that the allegation was not true.
“We have registered the case. One accused has been arrested. The search for the rest is on. Appropriate legal action has been taken,” OC Masudur Rahman told NTV.
“Poet Saroj Deb received his master’s degree from the Bengali Department of Rajshahi University in 1973. After coming to Gaibandha, he started writing poems about the lives of marginalized people. So far the number of his poetry books is eight. National newspapers published supplement on the life & literary works of poet Saroj Deb,” The Daily Star Bangla wrote.
Eminent personalities as well as different literary & cultural organisations condemned this incident.
Radical Islamists spare no Hindus, not even an innocent, naive poet! And police do not stand by the side of the minority Hindus who are assaulted, raped, killed every now and then by the Jihadists. So where will go these Bangladeshi Hindus? They’ll one day meet the same fate of Rohingyas!