A youth was detained on Saturday for beating up two minor girls on a launch docked at Munshiganj Launch Terminal while returning to Dhaka on Friday night.
Confirming the matter, Munshiganj police officer-in-charge Saiful Alam said that the process of filing a case in this regard was under way.
A video of the beating went viral on social media, while allegations surfaced that money and mobile phones were looted from the victims, police said.
The viral video showed a youth beating up two girls aged between 15 and 17 with a belt at the front of the launch at about 8:00pm on Friday and many were cheering for the youth during the incident
The youth was later identified as Nehal Ahmed Jihad from the Munshiganj town.
Asked about the incident, Nehal said that some 200 to 300 men were about to attack the girls upon getting angered by their attire.
鈥業 have punished them as a brother to neutralise the people. I shouldn鈥檛 have done that,鈥� the youth said, adding that聽 other people would鈥檝e tore their dresses apart and humiliated them more if he hadn鈥檛 punished the girls.
The incident occurred on the first floor of the Dhaka-Lalmohan bound MV Captain at about 8:00pm, where 20-25 boys and two minor girls were returning on the launch after enjoying a daylong picnic, the police and witnesses said.
OC Saiful said that some 8-10 passengers got down from the launch to buy evening snacks when some local people followed them, assuming them to be drug addicts.
They tried to get into the launch, but they were obstructed by the launch manager, he said.
鈥楢ngered by the obstruction, local people gathered and entered the launch and vandalised it,鈥� the OC said, adding, 鈥楾he locals also beat up and looted the passengers.鈥�
Other videos of the incident circulating on social media further showed that a group of 10-15 people were beating up some minor boys on the first floor of the launch.
The attackers were also trying to conduct a search and break the locks of the cabins, the videos showed.
