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Another victim, Nirnoy H Islam, said they had gone to the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University to observe preparations for the Mongol Shobhajatra. “They were holding a rally there before we were attacked.

“I was trying to stop the attackers, but they started targeting the women and beat us arbitrarily.”

Nirnoy also questioned how anyone could identify a person’s sexual orientation based on their dress or appearance.

Earlier in the evening, Azadi Andolon reportedly held a rally in the Shahbagh area calling for “freeing Shahbagh from homosexual programmes”.

Kazi Moazzema Tasnim, who was also assaulted in the incident, filed a general diary with Shahbagh Police Station around 11:00pm.

According to the complaint, “As our male friends were escorting the female friends to Shahbagh Police Station, mobile journalists tried to block our way. We initially attempted to move away and requested them to step aside.

“They still continued to gather around and began asking our female friends various embarrassing, indecent, and suggestive questions, along with making offensive remarks.”

The GD further stated, “After arriving at the police station, we learned that the gathering had been called by an organisation named Azadi Andolon. The call for the gathering was made from a Facebook account named Mohammad Shahriar Alam, and he was assisted by Ali Hossain Tanmoy.”

Contacted around 10:00pm, Shahbagh Police Station Officer-in-Charge Moniruzzaman said they were yet to gather full details about the incident. “We have asked the victims to seek medical treatment. We will look into the matter,” he told this correspondent, adding that no case had been filed in connection with the incident as of the filing of this report around 1:00am.

Meanwhile, the injured were undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.