Man held for assaulting women on the beach

Police have arrested a suspect in the harassment and assault of several women at Cox's Bazar sea beach and Lal Dighi area of the beach town on the night of September 11.

A team of the Detective Branch of Cox's Bazar police picked up Mohammad Farokul Islam, 22, from the town's Kalur Dokan area on Friday night, hours after videos of harassment and assault of several women went viral on social media, said Javed Mahmud, an officer-in-charge of DB in Cox's Bazar.

Farokul, a former madrasa student hailing from Chattogram's Lohagara upazila, has been residing in the Rumaliar Chhara area of Cox's Bazar town for several years. He claimed himself to be an Islami Chhatra Shibir activist.

A victim, who isalso a member of the third gender community, filed a case with Cox's Bazar Sadar Police Station yesterday against two named and five-six unnamed suspects for harassing and assaulting women, said Jasim Uddin Chowdhury, additional superintendent of Cox's Bazar district police.

Farokul has been named as the prime accused in the case. The other named accused is one Nayan Rudra.

The arrestee was produced before a Cox's Bazar court yesterday.

The Daily Star has analysed at least seven videos of the harassment and assault. One of those videos shows Farokul, armed with a stick, and his associates verbally abusing a woman at the sea beach and forcing her to do sit-ups while holding her ears.

In another video, the same group of men are seen approaching a woman sitting on a beach chair late at night on September 11.

They asked her what she was doing there "so late at night". The woman kept on saying, "I am a tourist. What is my fault?"

At one stage, they forced the woman to leave the beach.

In another video,Farokul is seen repeatedly hitting a woman with a stick in a room. The woman begged him to stop.

Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student front of Jamaat-e-Islami, on its verified Facebook page said the accused does not belong to the organisation.