‘Radicalised' Bengal engineer attacked madrasa staff after they refused to answer his ‘absurd' questions, claimed he wanted to attain ‘Jannat'
In Bongaon, Humayun Kabir attacked teachers and staff at the Hafizia Kharizia Orphanage Madrasa with a knife, injuring four individuals critically.
BONGAON: Thirty-five-year-old
Humayun Kabir
first asked those present at the Hafizia Kharizia Orphanage Madrasa about their knowledge of Islam.
Only when they refused to respond to his "absurd" and "irrelevant" questions and asked him to leave, did he draw out his knife and slash at all those present close to him.
Jafar Ali Mondal (46), Meheruddin Mondal (60), Sofiar Mondal (70), and Hasanur Molla (26), who taught and worked in the orphanage-madrasa, sustained severe stab injuries on their heads, faces, hands, back and shoulders. They are now being treated in the Bongaon Jiban Ratan Dhar Sub-Divisional Hospital. Their condition is critical but stable.
A day after Kabir's horrific attack, the students, boarders, teachers, and other staff members of the Bongaon orphanage are still struggling to overcome the shock and fear.
The orphanage-madrasa, located beside the Bongaon-Bagdah Road at Eidgah Maidan in Motiganj under Bongaon Municipality, has been there for three decades. It is located about six kilometres from the India-Bangladesh border.
According to sources, the incident occurred around 6.30 pm on Wednesday, just after the evening Azaan, when the students were preparing for their regular studies. Sources said Kabir was asking absurd and irrelevant questions about Islam.
When he was asked to leave, he suddenly pulled out a sharp weapon and attacked the people inside the madrasa.
"Suddenly, the unknown young man entered the madrasa without asking anyone. He began raising religious topics and started asking various irrelevant and absurd questions about Islam. When we protested and asked him to leave, he drew out a sharp weapon and attacked us. Four of us were seriously injured by his frenzied and reckless blows.
We screamed in terror. Hearing our cries, locals rushed in and somehow managed to disarm him and informed the police," a madrasa teacher said, requesting anonymity.
The locals immediately caught and tied him while some also beat him up before handing him over to the police. Despite being injured, Kabir reportedly showed no remorse. "He kept repeating that he killed his parents because they disliked the poor and treated them like servants.
He claimed he wanted to attain 'Jannat' (heaven)," said Riaz Ali Mollah, a local trader who witnessed the incident. "We live in peace. A Kali temple, a mosque, and this madrasa have coexisted in harmony for years. It is terrifying to see such violence in a place meant for orphaned children," said Debasish Mondal, a local resident.
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