Staff Correspondent
At least 46 people, including 21 jail guards and 20 madrasa students were injured yesterday in a clash between the two sides over control of a playground in the capital’s Lalbagh area.
Authorities of Govt Madrasa-e-Alia alleged that the jail guards ransacked six rooms at one of its dormitories near the playground and took away a computer and eight mobile phones.
Witnesses said a group of madrasa students were playing cricket on the playground at Bakshi Bazar while several jail guards were cycling and playing volleyball there at about 8:30am.
At one stage, a jail guard riding a cycle hit Zakir Hossain, an Aleem first-year student of the madrasa, who was playing cricket there.
When the madrasa students protested the incident, the jail guards drove them out of the playground, said witnesses.
As the news spread at Allama Kashgari Hostel of the madrasa, over 150 madrasa students rushed to the playground and chased the jail guards playing volleyball there.
Later, over a hundred jail guards with sticks, brickbats and hockey sticks attacked the students and ransacked rooms at Shahid Ibrahim Hostel of the madrasa, sources said.
At least 46 people were injured in the clashes. Of the wounded, 20 madrasa students were rushed to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) while four jail guards were admitted to the Jail Hospital and another to the DMCH.
On information, madrasa principal Prof Muhammad Islam Ghani and Deputy Inspector General (DIG-Prisons) Maj Shamsul Haider Siddique rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control with the help of policemen after one and a half hours.
Madrasa student Zakir told The Daily Star that they repeatedly requested the jail guards not to cycle at the place where they were playing cricket but the prison guards did not pay heed to their request.
Principal Islam told The Daily Star that the authorities concerned gave the madrasa permission to use the playground in 1959 and madrasa students have been using it since then.
The jail guards recently barred the madrasa students and locals from playing there claming that the playground belongs to them, he added.
Locals said jail guards, locals and students from nearby educational institutions used to play together on the ground but jail guards now bar locals and students from playing there.
Mohammad Mahmudul Hasan, a resident of Shahid Ibrahim Hostel, filed a general diary with the Lalbagh Police Station.
DIG-prison Haider said some outsiders claiming themselves as madrasa students attacked the jail guards leaving 21 of them injured.
Courtesy: thedailystar.net
