Woman entrepreneur publicly humiliated, assaulted in Rajbari

A video showing a woman entrepreneur being publicly humiliated and assaulted in Rajbari over a business dispute has gone viral on social media. The incident took place on Saturday afternoon (August 29) in the Kapar Bazar area of Rajbari town. The victim, Jakia Sultana, is the director of 'Aastha Poshak Shilpa', a garment manufacturing unit on the third floor of Kaderia Market in the city.

According to traders, a dispute arose when a female employee of Jakia's establishment, Brishti Khatun, decided to start her own business. Jakia complained to market leaders, who attempted mediation. However, when she approached business leader Abdul Aziz Mandal again on Saturday over the same issue, he expressed inability to resolve it, escalating the situation. Traders said Jakia then led a procession of over 100 women with a microphone from the ground floor of Kaderia Market, triggering tension. Traders shut their shops in protest and marched to the police station. Shops reopened after about two hours.

The viral video shows a procession of traders' association members, with a female police officer accompanying Jakia Sultana. Several individuals are seen kicking and punching her from behind, with multiple people physically assaulting her. When visited Kapar Bazar on Sunday afternoon (August 30), traders claimed those seen in the video were outsiders, but no detailed information about their identities could be obtained.

Jakia Sultana said she had been doing business in Kapar Bazar for about 12 years. She alleged that others were influencing her employees to leave her establishment. She said an employee informed her on July 15 that she wanted to quit, citing her mother's illness, and she requested her to continue working until August. Later, on August 22, she learned the employee was preparing to start work at another shop—she then told the employee not to come and to collect wages on the 10th. She alleged that this led to an attack on her shop, with attackers pressuring her to pay the employee. She also claimed that business leaders had prevented her from filing a case over the matter. Although no written complaint has been filed with the police station yet, she feels a case is necessary after being publicly humiliated. She said around 4,000 female workers are employed across her 26 sub-centres.

Rajbari Bazar Business Welfare Committee Convenor Benjir Ahmed said he went to the market and tried to calm both sides. He said he had long heard various allegations against the woman entrepreneur and understood the dispute originated from her refusal to allow an employee to open her own shop. Later, Rajbari police took Jakia into protective custody. While no written complaint was filed by either side at the police station, Benjir said a decision was made that the woman would no longer be allowed to do business in Kapar Bazar.

Rajbari Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime and Ops) Md Shamsul Haque said no written complaint had been filed, and he understood both sides would resolve the matter through discussion. Regarding the video of the woman entrepreneur being assaulted while in police custody, he said police had not yet seen the footage, and legal action would be taken if the victim filed a complaint.