While the country was in the festive mood ahead of Durga Puja, a shocking and brutal attack took place in Indurkani, Pirojpur. Bipul Mitra, headmaster of Patashi Union Secondary School and a member of the Hindu community, was beaten with hammers and iron rods by a group of assailants who targeted and fractured both of his legs. Local sources say that, before the attack, local BNP leader Kamruzzaman Khan had phoned Mitra and issued obscene threats.
According to residents, a long-standing dispute over formation of an ad-hoc school committee had soured relations between the headmaster and the BNP leader. Kamruzzaman pressured that his sister be made the committee president, a demand Bipul Mitra refused because it would bypass proper procedure. Angered by this, the leader began to threaten Mitra.
A leaked phone call contains the leader’s abusive threat, in which he says, “I’ll make sure you stop acting as headmaster at midnight. I’ll shove an egg up your backside.” Within a few days that vile threat turned into reality.
Eyewitnesses report that yesterday evening, while returning home, Mitra was ambushed. The attackers repeatedly struck his legs so that he would be rendered immobile. Locals rushed the bloodied headmaster to the district hospital, where doctors confirmed that both legs are broken and his condition is critical.
The injured man’s wife, voice choked with tears, said, “My husband’s only ‘crime’ was that he refused to bow before wrongdoing. We cannot accept such a barbaric attack on the eve of the festival. We demand exemplary punishment for Kamruzzaman and his gang.”
The attack has provoked deep anger and fear among teachers and the local Hindu community. A teacher, speaking angrily, asked, “If a headmaster can be left in this state, where can ordinary people feel safe? This looks like an intentional attempt to create communal terror just before the Puja.”
Efforts to contact the accused BNP leader failed — his phone remained switched off. Representatives of civil society say this is not simply an assault on one teacher but a dirty attempt to damage communal harmony.
They have demanded the swift arrest of the perpetrators and strict, exemplary punishment.
