A Union Parishad Chairman has been arrested in a case involving the torture of a Santal woman and her house set on fire in Gobindaganj, Gaibandha. The arrested Rafiqul Islam is Chairman of Rajahar Union Parishad and the victim is Philomina Hansda, a Santal woman from the Raja Birat village in Gobindaganj. Nishat Angela, Gaibandha Superintendent of Police, said that police arrested Rafiqul from a hotel in Shahbagh, Dhaka, on Wednesday morning at around 8 am. Philomina Hansda’s son, British Soren, said that on Friday at around 10 am, Rafiqul was putting soil on an ancestral land of the Santals near the village. When a few Santal youths attempted to stop him, Rafiqul assaulted them. When his mother tried to intervene, Rafiqul slapped her repeatedly. He alleged that later that night, Rafiqul’s associates set their house on fire. Read: Santal houses set on fire by UP chairman in Gaibandha The next day, Philomina Hansda’s other son, Julius Soren, filed a case naming Rafiqul Islam, his brother, and four others, along with 20-25 unidentified individuals. Following the incident, Gaibandha district BNP expelled Rafiqul Islam from all positions. In a statement on Tuesday, 47 prominent citizens of the country demanded the punishment of those involved in the incident. Bulbul Islam, Officer-in-Charge of Gobindaganj Police Station, said, “The prime accused, Rafiqul Islam, was arrested from a hotel in Dhaka. He will be taken back to Gaibandha to complete the legal process.”

More than 15 people were injured in a clash between activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP over the vacant acting chairman position of Mohdipur Union Parishad on Wednesday in the Palashbari area of the district. Zulfikar Ali Bhattu, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Palashbari Police Station, said that the chairman's post in Mohdipur Union Parishad had been vacant for a long time. Tensions escalated when political differences between BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami flared up. Earlier in the day, Palashbari Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Kamrul Islam held a meeting with Mohdipur UP members in his office to discuss the issue, with leaders and activists from both BNP and Jamaat in attendance. The situation took a violent turn when an argument over who would assume the acting chairman position escalated into a clash, leaving at least 15 people injured. The UNO also mentioned hearing the sound of several cocktail explosions during the altercation. The injured individuals are receiving treatment at various hospitals in the district. Local residents reported that the clash caused multiple chases and counter-chases between the two parties, leading to traffic disruptions on the Dhaka-Rangpur Highway. To prevent further violence, additional police forces have been deployed to the area. Md Mosharraf Hossain, the Superintendent of Gaibandha Police, confirmed that army patrols have also been increased in Palashbari to help control the situation.

A man was stabbed to death allegedly by his rivals over a land dispute in Palashbari upazila of Gaibandha on Tuesday evening. The deceased was Bablu Mia, a resident of Kariyata village under Dhossainpur union of the upazila. Locals said there had long been a dispute between victim Bablu and neighbour Matiar over the ownership of a piece of land in the village. Centring the land, Matiar allegedly stabbed Bablu with the knife, leaving him dead on the spot and five more injured. Read: Union-level AL leader stabbed dead in Narsingdi Palashbari police station’s Officer-in-Charge Zulfikar Ali Bhutto confirmed the matter saying that they recovered the body.

Anxiety gripped 226 Alim examinees and their guardians in Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha district, as the Madrasah Board students were apparently provided the wrong question paper during their English Paper I exam by invigilators at the exam centre.   Further complicating matters, the major error on the part of the exam centre authorities only came to light after the students had finished sitting for the exam, with no one having voiced any questions during the exam. This was only made possible by the fact that the question paper provided to them was not from an entirely different subject or year -  but rather one for 'irregular students' sitting the same exam, i.e. English Paper I. Also read : Traffic police killed in Gaibandha road accident; 3 arrested Attendance was high on the day, with 226 out of 234 eligible students attending Sunday’s examination at the upazila’s lone examination centre: the Dhumaitari Siddikia Fazil (Degree) Madrasa. The students describe an almost benign, nondescript day. Once there, the centre authorities provided them with the question paper and they proceeded to answer them.  By all accounts, the exam passed without any overt incident, and relatively quietly. No alarms were raised at the centre itself. Later in the day, they came to know that they had been provided the question paper meant for the irregular students. "We were forced to answer the wrong question paper, with no chance of knowing," one of them said.        Expressing concern over their overall result being possibly held up over this, Abdul Aziz, another of the students, said: “We don’t know how the matter happened but the invigilators gave us the wrong question papers.” The exam centre secretary has overall authority for the conduct of examinations at each centre. That job was being filled by KYM Abdullah, the principal of the Dhumaitari Siddikia Fazil (Degree) Madrasa. Also read : Madrasha student found dead in Thakurgaon To make matters worse, he has been non-cooperative since the incident came to light. He could not be reached over phone for his comments despite several attempts over two days. Md Zafor Ahmed Laskar, who was serving as one of the invigilators and is an official of the upazila’s Young Development, said no one informed them, or raised any such issue during the exam. Despite that, he did point the finger of blame at Abdullah as the centre secretary. "Only he can be held responsible for such a catastrophic error." Laskar acknowledged that the students and guardians now face more prolonged suffering. Upazila Secondary Education officer Abdul Momin Mondal said, “It is not right to take the exam with the wrong question papers. If the board allows us to oversee the answer sheets with the answered question papers, the students will get results. Also read : SSC and HSC 2024 will be held in February, April: Education Minister Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Nur-E-Alam said, “Entire responsibility goes upon the center secretary. No meeting has happened with him yet and I asked him to meet soon to make it clear.” Terming the incident 'unfair', Prof Kaisar Ahmed remained firm in his conviction that the centre secretary should be the one held responsible and ordered the UNO to dig into his details. Expressing deep regret over the farcical incident, the board chairman said measures will be taken in this regard.

A traffic police constable was killed when a sand-laden truck hit his motorbike at Golchattar in Gaibandha district town on Thursday morning. Also read : Bus-truck collision leaves 3 dead in Gaibandha The deceased was identified as Md Biplab of Sirajganj district. Also read : Probe body formed to investigate misconduct of Gaibandha Govt Girls School’s headmaster The accident occurred around 7:30 am when the truck from Palashbari hit the motorbike carrying Biplab while performing his duty near police café point, leaving him dead on the spot, said Masud Rana, officer-in-charge of Sadar Police Station. Also read : Two killed in Chattogram truck accident Police are trying to arrest the truck driver, said OC.

Police recovered the throat-slit body of a man from Sadullapur upazila of Gaibandha district on Saturday morning. The deceased was identified as Surat Ali, of Puran Lakshipur village in the upazila. Family members said Surat went to a local market on Friday evening but did not return at night. On Saturday morning, locals spotted his body lying under the Collegepara Ghaghat Bridge and informed police. Also Read: Unidentified man's body found in city On information, police recovered the body and sent it to a hospital morgue for an autopsy, said Enayet Kabir, officer-in-charge (OC) of Sadullapur Police Station. Police suspected that miscreants might have killed him over previous enmity.

Three motorcyclists  were killed and two pedestrians injured as their motorcycle collided with a bus on Dhaka-Rangpur highway in Palashbari upazila of Gaibandha district Monday morning. The deceased were identified as motorcyclist Bidyut, 28, and his pillion riders Subhash, 27, and Sumon, 27, of the district. Read more: Bangladesh 88th among 183 countries in road accident death rate: Minister Masud Rana, officer-in-charge (OC) of Palashbari police station, said the Nilphamari-bound bus of ‘Al Baraka Paribahan’ crashed into the motorcycle coming from the opposite direction around 8am, leaving Bidyut dead on spot. The two pillion riders succumbed to their injuries at Palashbari Upazila Health Complex while two pedestrians were undergoing treatment there, the OC added. Read more: 3 motorcyclists dead in Jhenaidah road crashes Police couldn’t seize the killer truck, he added.

Awami League-backed candidate Mahmud Hasan Ripon unofficially won the by-election to Gaibandha-5, held peacefully today (January 04, 2023).  Ripon won the election by defeating Jatiya Party-backed candidate AHM Golam Shaheed Ranju with a margin of 33,533 votes.  The winning candidate bagged a total of 78,285 votes with the boat symbol while Ranju got 44,752 votes with the plough symbol.  The other candidates of the by-election were Bikalpa Dhara candidate Advocate Jahangir Alam and independent candidate Syed Mahbubur Rahman. Read more: Gaibandha-5 by-polls: Festive mood as voting underway Voting started at 8 am and continued till 4:30 pm. No untoward incident was reported. The election was monitored from Dhaka through a total of 1,242 CCTV cameras while it ended with only a 35 percent turnout. The constituency consists of Saghata and Phulchhari upazilas. On October 12 last year, the Election Commission (EC) suspended the by-election due to “rampant irregularities” on the election day and later the commission fixed January 4 for holding the polls. Read more: Gaibandha-5 by-election held in a disciplined environment: CEC Following the death of Gaibandha-5 lawmaker and Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Fazle Rabbi Miah on July 22, 2022, it became a constitutional obligation to hold election for the parliamentary seat by October 20, 2022. Accordingly it was scheduled for October 12. A three-member committee was formed to look into the election irregularities on October 12 last year. Following the recommendations of the committee, the Election Commission took punitive actions against 133 officials including an additional deputy commissioner, five sub-inspectors and returning officer of the election. Read More: No irregularities reported yet in Gaibandha by-election: EC Rashida.

No irregularities have been reported yet at the polling stations during the Gaibandha by-election, said Election Commissioner Rashida Sultana. She said this while observing the election on CCTV cameras from the Election Commission office at Agargaon in the capital on Wednesday morning. Read more: Gaibandha-5 by-polls: Festive mood as voting underway She also said that the voter turnout was low due to cold weather. "We can see the voting in the CCTV cameras. So far, there has been no problem at the polling centers," she said. EC IDEA Project DPD (Communications) Squadron Leader Shahriar Alam told reporters that the election is being monitored directly from Dhaka through a total of 1,242 CCTV cameras. The voting is being monitored by CC cameras from 8 am at the EC control room on the fifth floor of the Election Commission building.  Read more: Gaibandha-5 by-polls: EC to take action against 133 officials Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal, Election Commissioners Ahsan Habib Khan, Md. Alamgir, Rashida Sultana and Anisur Rahman are monitoring the polls. 

Voting in the by-election for Gaibandha-5 constituency, which was suspended due to irregularities, is underway with participation of voters in a festive mood. Voting started at 8 am and will continue till 4:30 pm. No untoward incident was reported till the filing of this report around 10 am. People were seen standing in long queues since morning, ignoring the cold. The presence of female voters is comparatively higher than their male counterparts. A total of 3,39,743 people are expected to exercise their franchise in 145 polling centres. Of them, 1,70,160 are females and 1,69,583 are male. District Election Officer and Returning officer Abdul Motaleb said that of the 145 polling centres, 72 are consider "important" while 32 are counted as "most important". Read: EC has 'no legal obligation' to bring parties to election All preparations have been taken to hold a smooth, free and fair election, he said. Elections will be monitored through CCTV cameras as done before. Rab, police, BGB and Ansar members will remain deployed to hold the election peacefully, said Motaleb. The candidates of the Gaibandha-5 by-election are: Awami League candidate Mahmud Hasan Ripon, Jatiya Party candidate AHM Golam Shaheed Ranju, Bikalpa Dhara candidate Advocate Jahangir Alam and independent candidate Syed Mahbubur Rahman. The constituency consists of Saghata and Phulchhari upazilas. On October 12 last year, the Election Commission (EC) suspended the by-election due to “rampant irregularities” on the election day and later the commission fixed January 4 for holding the polls. Following the death of Gaibandha-5 lawmaker and Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Fazle Rabbi Miah on July 22, 2022, it became a constitutional obligation to hold election for the parliamentary seat by October 20, 2022. Accordingly it was scheduled for October 12. A three-member committee was formed to look into the election irregularities on October 12 last year. Following the recommendations of the committee, the Election Commission took punitive actions against 133 officials including an additional deputy commissioner, five sub-inspectors and returning officer of the election. Read More: EC to delve into slow voting complaint in Rangpur City Corporation Polls