Staff Reporter :
Several hundred Readymade Garment (RMG) workers and locals torched at least two buses and vandalized over 40 vehicles following the death of two female workers in city’s Malibagh Chowdhurypara area on Tuesday afternoon in road crash.
The public suffering was mounted due to massive traffic congestion as the protesters carried out the mayhem after blocking the DIT Road’s Malibagh Level Crossing to Merul Badda from 2:00pm to 6:30pm, witness said.
The deceased were identified as Mim Akhter, 16, and Nahida Parvin alias Poli , 22; both were the workers of MH Garments in Rampura area.
“A bus of ‘Suprabhat Paribahan’ ran over Mim and Parvin near Abul Hotel at about 2:00pm when they were crossing the road, leaving Mim dead on the spot while Parvin was declared dead at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), said police Sergeant Shuvo Kumar Dey.
As the death news spread around, garment workers and locals took to the streets and they had carried out massacre by blocking road for four hours, witnesses said.
The agitators continued the demonstration demanding the arrest of the driver and justice with compensation to the two victims’ families, they said.
Although a fire-fighting unit started moving to the spot on information, it could not reach there as the road was blocked. The fire of buses was doused by locals.
Police charged baton on the agitators and brought the situation under control, said Enamul Haque, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Rampura Police Station.
Police, however, seized the bus and arrested its driver, the police official said.
Jarina Begum, mother of victim Mim, broke down in tears at Dhaka Medical College on Tuesday, and said that her daughter was killed on the spot.
Contacted, Shiblee Noman, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Motijheel Zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said that additional industrial policemen were deployed in the area to avert untoward situation.
The bodies were kept at DMCH morgue for autopsy, DMCH Police Outpost Inspector Bachchu said.
