A commercial disagreement in Rajbari took a volatile turn on Saturday afternoon when a female business owner was assaulted in broad daylight while under police escort. The incident, which unfolded in the bustling central cloth market area, has drawn widespread public scrutiny after footage of the altercation circulated across social media networks.
The aggrieved business owner, Zakia Sultana, resides in the Boropul area of the town and has operated a garment workshop named Astha Poshak Shilpa on the third floor of the Kaderia Market since 2012. Trouble began brewing weeks prior when a dispute emerged involving Shahnaz Parveen, an employee who joined the workshop a few months ago. Parveen recently decided to leave her position, triggering a disagreement over the settlement of pending wages and the completion of assigned tasks.
According to Sultana, tensions escalated on 22 August during a discussion over financial dues. The following night, Parveen allegedly returned to the premises accompanied by several outsiders, demanding an immediate wage payout within twenty-four hours. This confrontation culminated in an alleged attack on the workshop. Seeking redress, Sultana approached the local market committee the next day, though she was advised to pursue legal channels to resolve the commercial friction.
Benzir Ahmed, the convenor of the Rajbari Bazar Business Welfare Association, visited the cloth market upon receiving reports of the unrest. He attempted to pacify both factions and initially facilitated a sitting to mediate the dispute.
The uneasy truce dissolved by Saturday afternoon when Sultana staged a protest march and human chain to denounce the earlier attack on her establishment. Clashes broke out with rival traders during the demonstration. Law enforcement units responded to the scene, rescued Sultana from the volatile crowd, and attempted to escort her safely to the police station.
Footage captured during the evacuation shows Sultana walking flanked by a female constable and several male officers as a hostile crowd trails behind. Amid the movement, individuals from the sidelines breach the perimeter. One youth attempts a kick, another tries a similar physical strike from a different angle, and a bystander lands a slap from behind.
Sultana has not yet filed a formal written complaint at the local police station regarding the physical assault, though she indicated that she is preparing to submit formal grievances to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and other relevant administrative bodies.
Uttam Kumar Ghosh, the officer-in-charge of Rajbari Sadar Police Station, confirmed that neither party had registered a formal complaint at the station concerning Saturday’s events.
Meanwhile, the rapid spread of the video online has sparked a wave of unverified claims and digital misinformation. Certain social media posts falsely alleged that consumer rights officials had investigated the shop and failed to protect the owner from local traders. Other entirely unrelated posts attempted to mischaracterize the footage as an assault involving an executive magistrate and an Upazila Nirbahi Officer. Local verification has confirmed these narratives to be entirely fabricated, underscoring the challenges of digital rumors intersecting with localized disputes. Formal legal proceedings remain dependent on the filing of an official police report by the involved parties.
