Both hands tied to a goalpost, his face and neck covered in dust and mud: at first glance it looks as though someone tied him up and tortured him. But that is not what happened.

Classmates tied a teenager like this on a school field in Muradnagar, Cumilla, and threw eggs at him to celebrate his birthday. A video of the incident went viral on social media, drawing criticism from netizens.

According to the video, the incident took place on the afternoon of Wednesday (19 November) on the playground of Muradnagar DR Government Pilot High School. Classmates took a Class 9 student of the school to the field on the pretext of his birthday, then tied his hands to the goalpost and threw eggs at him.

Local resident Khalilur Rahman saw it from a distance, ran over and freed the boy. He then posted a video of the incident on Facebook, and it went viral almost instantly.

One netizen wrote: "I thought he was a thief." Others described the incident as a sign of a "sick society" and a "sick generation".

The boy, however, said his friends were just having fun to celebrate his birthday, and that the same had been done for other friends in the past.

Calling the incident "undesirable", Md Moynal Hossain, acting head teacher of Muradnagar DR Government Pilot High School, said: "I think they were inspired by the student abuse called ragging that happens in universities. The guardians of the accused students will be called in, and strict action will be taken so that nothing like this happens again."

Muradnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md Abdur Rahman said: "Such an unruly environment in an educational institution! This is not acceptable. I have told the education officer and the head teacher to take the necessary action against those involved."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.