16-year-old girl chained, dragged through street over theft allegation in Sylhet; 3 arrested

A 16-year-old girl was chained around the waist and dragged along a road in Sylhet after locals detained her for allegedly trying to steal from a shop's cash box.

According to local sources, local traders and others detained the girl around 7pm on 7 September in the Mosque Market area of D Block in the city's Shahjalal Upashahar.

She was allegedly beaten before being chained around the waist and dragged along the road around 11pm. The girl was later handed over to Shahparan Police Station, but those who detained her did not file any complaint against her, the sources said.

A 36-second video of the incident surfaced on social media yesterday (8 September). In the video, a young man is seen pulling the girl along with a chain tied around her waist as she cries.

Police arrested three people in connection with the incident during a drive this morning, said Md Monir Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of Shahparan Police Station.

The arrested are brothers Md Zakir Hossain, 43, and Md Mozaffar Hossain, 40, both from C Block in Shahjalal Upashahar, and Md Burhan Uddin, 45, from the same area.

"They were arrested after we reviewed the video footage," the OC said.

Md Manzurul Alam, additional deputy commissioner (media) of Sylhet Metropolitan Police, said a case was filed against the three this afternoon and they were being prepared to be produced before a court.

Supreme Court lawyer Sudipta Arjun said Section 59 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows an ordinary citizen to detain a person who commits a cognisable offence, but the person must be handed over to the police or the nearest police station immediately.

If someone instead punishes the person they have detained, including by chaining them around the waist and making them walk in public or subjecting them to physical or mental abuse, such conduct is against the law and punishable, he said.