A mobile court in Barishal’s Gournadi upazila sentenced a 26-year-old man named Bikash Chandra Bala to one year of imprisonment without labor for torturing his parents when they delayed giving him money for drugs. The incident occurred on Tuesday morning, June 16, in Harisena village under Gournadi municipality. The sentence was handed down by Executive Magistrate Md. Mehedi Hasan.

According to Faizul Islam Hridoy Hawlader, Sub-Inspector of the Department of Narcotics Control, Gournadi Circle, Bikash had long been addicted to drugs and frequently assaulted his parents and damaged their home when denied money. His parents had previously sold land to send him abroad, but he returned and resumed drug use under the influence of peers. He had also spent six months in a rehabilitation center before relapsing.

Authorities arrested Bikash with 100 grams of cannabis during a raid in Harisena village, conducted with the assistance of local union chairman Soikat Guha Pikul. The mobile court also fined him 5,000 taka in addition to the prison sentence.