Locals know who killed amputated former Rajshahi University Chhatra League leader Masud in broad daylight, the plaintiff did not name any suspects in the case, and police have yet to take any action.
Two years later, the victim’s brother, Ayatullah Behesti, fears the worst: “The police have not contacted our family. I am worried we will never get justice.”
Behesti explained to TIMES of Bangladesh that no accused were named because police instructed them to leave the names out, claiming they already knew the suspects and that widespread video footage of the beating existed.
The victim, Masud, was a former Rajshahi University Chhatra League leader. He had previously lost his right leg and the use of his hand in a brutal 2014 attack outside Zia Hall. After years of unemployment, he was appointed as a university store officer in late 2022 following an appeal to then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
On 7 September 2024, just four days after becoming a father, Masud went to the nearby Binodpur Bazar to buy medicine for his daughter.
There, he was brutally beaten and his remaining leg was broken. He was then taken to the Boalia Model Police Station in a police van.
A viral Facebook video from the station showed a distressed Masud pleading, “I came to Binodpur to get medicine, brother. I was a member of Chhatra League… but my leg was amputated in 2014. I stopped being a activist a long time ago.”
According to a case filed by Behesti against “unknown persons” on 11 September, the attackers initially took Masud to an unknown location to beat him.
When his condition worsened, an “influential” individual with to Motihar Police Station to check existing murder cases linked to the anti-discrimination student movement.
Finding none, Rajshahi University student coordinators, acting on that “influential” individual’s instructions, took Masud to Boalia Police Station to show him arrested in a murder case.
The coordinators of Students Against Discrimination surrounded Masud on the floor and denied him water. Following an argument between coordinators and the officer-in-charge over arresting a critically injured man without medical treatment, Masud was finally taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital at 10:30 pm.
He died at 12:03 am on that night. The complaint notes that the same unknown attackers were responsible for severing his right leg in 2014.
Eighteen months after the filing of the case, Motihar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Abul Kalam Azad could provide no updates.
“It happened a long time ago. We have to look into it,” Azad told TIMES, adding that he was unauthorised to speak directly to the press and directing inquiries to the Rajshahi Metropolitan Police media spokesperson.
However, the spokesperson, Additional Deputy Commissioner Gaziur Rahman, offered little substance, saying only that “the case is under investigation” and “legal action will be taken later.”
Following the tragedy, Masud’s wife, Beauty Ara, returned to her father’s house in Chapainawabganj with their newborn daughter, while Masud was buried in the Binodpur village graveyard.
According to Behesti, the family is struggling in isolation. “Masud’s wife lives with her father now along with the little child,” Behesti shared. “They have no income, and they don’t talk much to anyone outside.”
