At least 10 people were killed in incidences of mob lynching across the country in the last 12 days. The victims are mostly women, mentally deranged, disabled, elderly and innocent persons.
Police believed that a vested quarter is trying to destabilise the situation by killing people in mob beatings after spreading rumours of abduction of boys in different parts of the country.
According to the human rights watchdog Ain O Salish Kendra, 36 persons have been lynched to death in the first six months across the country.
Security agencies last week arrested at least eight people on charge of spreading rumours on Facebook that "human heads and blood are required to build the Padma Bridge."
In a warning issued on Saturday, police reminded the people that killing someone suspected to be an abductor in mob beating is a crime.
In Dhaka, a woman was killed by locals on suspicion of being a kidnapper, she was entering a school in the Badda area of Dhaka. The woman, Taslima Begum Renu, a single mother, actually went to the Uttar Badda Govt Primary School to ask about the admission process.
Nasir Uddin, nephew of the victim, filed a case with Badda Police Station on Saturday, accusing five hundred unnamed people. Police has so far arrested four people in this connection.
The suspects-Bachhu Mia, 28, Bappy, 21, and Shaheen, 31-were remanded. And another suspect Zafar gave a confessional statement to the court, according to Rafiqul Islam, Office-in-Charge of Badda Police Station.
Another woman around age 32, died at a Dhaka hospital on Saturday when locals in Savar's Tatuljhora area beat her up, following her 'suspicious' movement. Several hundred people have been sued over both the incidents.
In Narayanganj, a man was beaten to death when locals suspected him to be a kidnapper. Police arrested 14 people in connection with the case.
Two men were thrashed by a mob in Keraniganj, killing one, and injuring the other, when locals took them for kidnappers while they were talking to a group of children.
In Moulvibazar, an unidentified man was beaten dead by a mob at a tea estate. At least 14 people were beaten up across the country in separate incidents on Saturday. Four people, including a woman, were beaten up by a mob in Cumilla on Saturday in two separate incidents.
Ratna, 50, her husband Abul Kalam, 74, and Anwar Hossain, 28, were beaten up by a mob suspecting them to be kidnappers in Dhutia Dighir Par area of Amratoli union of Cumilla Sadar Upazila. Arif from Kasba Upazila in Brahmanbaria was roughed up by a mob in the Majhigacha area of Cumilla.
The police headquarters have asked all the unit chiefs across the country to take steps to stop deaths in mob beating.
In this regard, Sayeed Tariqul Hasan, Assistant Inspector General of Police (operation) at Police Headquarters in Dhaka, sent letters to all units of police across the country on Monday.
In Tangail, locals handed over three people to the police after giving them a good beating in the district town.
In Naogaon, six people were beaten up by a mob in Buridaha village on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, the police has asked people not to take the law in their own hands as mob killing is a criminal offence. "Spreading rumours is leading to unrest in the country," the police said.
Very recently, rumours spread on Facebook said that 'human heads and blood are required to build the Padma Bridge.'
In Rajshahi city, angry locals beat up three people who were distributing chips among children as part of an advertising campaign of Rajshahi Agro Foods and Beverage. The mob also vandalised their car, Motihar Police Station OC Hafizur Rahman said.
At Dhutiya Dighir Par in Cumilla's Sadar Upazila, a woman and two men accompanying her were injured in a mob beating after they had asked a child to show them a toilet, Amrhatoli Union Council Chairman Md Mozammel Hossain told the Daily Observer.
The police headquarters have asked all the unit chiefs across the country to take steps to stop deaths in mob beatings.
