WE are dismayed and disappointed that a twenty-year-old man has been shot in the leg and then arrested by police personnel for reasons that cannot be described as credible. According to our correspondent, Shahadat Hossain, the unfortunate young man who happened to be crossing a police checkpost while on a bike, was apprehended and then shot in the leg. According to Shahadat, the police had admitted to him that they had shot him by mistake and apologised for it, even going as far as taking him to a hospital and spending Tk 7,000 for his treatment. But mysteriously, three days later, the same police accused Shahadat in a case of preventing police from discharging their duty. These two bizarrely contrasting versions of the story leave us quite baffled as to what really happened.

If indeed Shahadat had been obstructing the police personnel and therefore had to be shot in the leg to be restrained, why would the police file a case against him three days later? And why would they admit him to a hospital, pay for his treatment instead of arresting him, and then going through official channels to get him treated? Surely the police have a lot of explaining to do.

Meanwhile, a young man's fate hangs in the balance. He does not know whether he will be able to regain full use of his leg. Neither does he know how the "case" against him will pan out.

We cannot help but find an eerie similarity between this case and that of Limon Hossain, a teenager who was shot in the leg by a member of Rab who had mistaken him for a criminal. Limon was left bleeding and eventually lost his leg and was lumped with two false cases—one for possessing arms and another for obstructing law enforcers.

We sincerely hope that Shahadat's story is not a repetition of Limon’s. The case must be properly investigated and the police must provide a credible and satisfactory account of this incident. Such police excesses must be dealt with a heavy hand.