In a gross show of power, a car owner first hit a van driver in Dhaka and then beat up a journalist who protested the incident.

Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo, photojournalist at The Daily Star and his friend were heading towards office through Dhanmondi 10/A when a black Mitsubishi outlander hit a van in broad daylight.

After hitting the van, the car owner got down and started beating up the van driver.

Seeing this, Apurbo, who was in a rickshaw behind them, intervened. The blows then quickly landed on him as he was shoved to the floor.

"I was pushed to the road and the car owner, who was in an impressive suit, started kicking and beating me up for no reasons whatsoever. Soon his two sons, one of them who could be seven to eight years old joined their father in the beating frenzy."

Within seconds, a mob gathered and joined in the madness. The indiscriminate punches and beating only stopped when Apurbo managed to bring out his ID card.

Seeing the ID card, the man's wife quickly pulled them away and they whizzed away in their big black car.