UNO ‘beats’ young man in fuel queue, video goes viral

Upazila Executive Officer (UNO) Shamima Akhter Jahan has been accused of beating a motorcyclist standing in fuel queue in Kaliganj of Lalmonirhat.

Later, a video of the incident went viral on social media. However, the UNO says that she only took the keys, she did not beat him.

The incident took place at ‘Lubana Filling Station’ in Chaparhat Bazar of Chandrapur Union of the upazila on Wednesday afternoon.

Locals said that Golok Chandra, an assistant professor at Chaparhat College in Kaliganj Upazila, sought help from Pradeep, the owner of Chaparhat Bazar’s garage, to get oil for his motorcycle as he was ill. At that time, Pradeep sent his employee Nadi, 18, to the pump to get oil along with his fuel card. While Nadi was standing in the line, Kaliganj UNO Shamima Akhter Jahan, who was supervising there, checked the card. At that time, the UNO slapped him without asking anything because his face did not match the photo on the card.

The incident created anger among the locals and businessmen present. Faced with the locals' anger, the UNO re-investigated the matter. Later, when the authenticity of the motorcycle and fuel card of the sick college teacher was confirmed, the young man was released after about an hour.

The complainant, Nadi, said, "I am a garage mechanic. At the owner's request, I stood in line to get fuel with the card and money of a sick teacher. While checking the UNO card, she slapped me several times without saying anything. I have not done anything wrong, I have been insulted without any fault. I want justice for this."

Denying these allegations, UNO Shamima Akhter Jahan said, "I only took the keys of his bike, I did not beat him. When his guardians came, the keys were handed over to them."