Dhaka, July 12 (Just News): Following denial throughout the day, police yesterday evening admitted arresting a quota reform leader from the capital's Shantinagar.
Legal action is being taken against the arrestee Suhel Islam, said DMP Deputy Commissioner (media) Masudur Rahman. He, however, did not mention the case in which the arrest was made.
Suhel, a third-year student of English department at Jagannath University, is a joint convenor of Bangladesh Shadharan Chhatra Odhikar Sangrakkhan Parishad, the platform that spearheaded the quota reform movement.
The incident happened at a time when four other central leaders of the platform have been arrest in different cases and many quota reform protesters have come under attack by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) men across the country.
Suhel, 23, was also allegedly beaten up by some men of the pro-Awami League student body near his campus on May 23 for participating in the demonstration, said his friends and other quota reform leaders. Later, he filed a general diary with Sutrapur Police Station in this regard, they said.
Around 5:45am yesterday, a group of men picked up Suhel from the house of Lucky Akter, a former president of Bangladesh Chhatra Union, after introducing themselves as detectives, she wrote in a Facebook post later in the morning.
Throughout the day, detectives, however, kept denying detaining Suhel, said his younger brother Sumon Islam, a college student.
Sumon along with some of Suhel's friends stayed in front of the DB office on Mintu Road from 9:00am to 5:00pm. They repeatedly asked those stationed at the gate about Suhel's whereabouts but they said he was not there, he said.
Talking to The Daily Star around noon, Devdas Bhattacharya, additional commissioner (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, and Najmul Islam, additional deputy commissioner of cyber security unit of the DMP, also said they did not pick up anyone named Suhel.
“As far as my knowledge goes, no one named Suhel has been detained. The information [regarding Suhel] is probably incorrect,” Devdas told this correspondent over phone.
While speaking, he took a small pause to recheck what he just said and reconfirmed it.
The arrest was disclosed on DMP's news portal dmpnews.org around 6:30pm. “The Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police has arrested one of the members of anti-quota movement,” the portal said.
In the Facebook post, Lucky Akter said, “DB police raided my home around 4:15am. They were a team of eight to 10 men … at one point, they threatened that they will break my door. I told them to come in the morning. I opened the door after they arrived along with landlord uncle around 4:30am.”
As the law enforcers came inside, they handcuffed Suhel and took him to a separate room for interrogation, she alleged.
“… They seized all our phones. They checked my phone as well … while they were taking Suhel away, I asked them about the charge against him. They said they were taking him for interrogation over the quota movement.
“Before leaving [along with Suhel] they checked the [browsing] history of the computer at my house. Besides, they thoroughly checked the room where Suhel was staying. They did not get anything apart from Suhel's [mobile] phone,” added Lucky, also a leader of Gonojagoron Mancha, a platform that spearheaded the Shahbagh Movement in 2013.
She said Suhel requested her not to disclose anything to his mother as the death of his father has taken a toll on her health.
As the news spread, Sumon along with four of Suhel's friends went to the DB office.
One of Suhel's friends, who wishes to remain unnamed as he fears government repression, told this correspondent, “When Rashed [joint convenor of the platform] got arrested, Suhel was afraid that he would be arrested as well. That's why he started staying outside his home.”
He said Suhel was appearing in his third-year final exams and the next test would be on Sunday.
Hailing from Atowari of Panchagarh, Suhel is third among five siblings. His father was a farmer, who died last year.
One of Suhel's elder brothers runs a grocery shop in Panchagarh while the other is currently unemployed. Around four months ago, Suhel brought his mother and Sumon to the capital and started living together in a rent house.
He used to run the family and bear his educational expenses by tutoring other students, added the friend.
Among other leaders of the quota reform platform, joint conveners Muhammad Rashed Khan have been taken into a 10-day remand while Jashim Uddin Akash, Moshiur Rahman and Faruk Hassan were taken into a two-day remand each. They were shown arrested in different cases filed in April.
On June 30, Nurul Haq Nur, a joint convener of Bangladesh Sadharan Chhatra Adhikar Sangrakkhan Parishad, was beaten up mercilessly and taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he was denied treatment.
While under treatment at a private hospital, he was allegedly forced to leave the hospital in the dead of night on July 2.
Four quota protesters were beaten up in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh on July 1.
The next day, the BCL men appeared more aggressive when they beat up the protesters who gathered on the Central Shaheed Minar premises to form a human chain.
They picked up Faruk Hassan, a demonstrator, and handed him over to Shahbagh Police Station. Before the attack, three on-duty police members were found leaving the Shaheed Minar seeing the BCL men.
Later, a female protester, Moriom Mannan Farah, alleged at a press conference that she was also physically assaulted by a group of youths who picked her up from the Shaheed Minar area on that day and handed her over to the Shahbagh Police Station. She also described awful harassment in police custody.
On July 2, Chhatra League men attacked Toriqul Islam, another quota reform leader, with hammer and sticks near the Rajshahi University campus. Later, Toriqul was allegedly forced out of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.
All the attackers, however, are roaming freely.-The Daily Star
(Justnews/ys/2320hr)
