Eminent citizens on Thursday accused prime minister Sheikh Hasina of the delay in justice to the murder of juvenile Tanvir Ahmed Tawqi who was abducted and brutally murdered in Narayanganj in 2013.
Speaking at a roundtable discussion at National Press Club on the 6th anniversary of Tawqi murder, they said Sheikh Hasina has taken the side of the ‘notorious’ Osman family, which is reportedly behind the brutal murder of Tawqi, and the trial process was stopped out of political decision.
Santras Nirmul Tawqi Mancha organised the roundtable where academician Serajul Islam Choudhury, journalist Kamal Lohani, politician Pankaj Bhattacharya, Liberation War Museum trustees Mofidul Hoque and Sarwar Ali, economists Anu Muhammad and MM Akash, Communist Party of Bangladesh president Mujahidul Islam Selim, Socialist Party of Bangladesh general secretary Khalequzzaman, journalist Mizanur Rahman Khan, among others, spoke.
Venting anger at the delay in justice to Tawqi murder, Kamal Lohani said the prime minister resorted to ‘hypocrisy’ over the trial of Tawqi murder. ‘Prime minister had said that he had every information about the murder, but she resorted to hypocrisy,’ he said.
‘She told in the parliament that she was with the Osman family…How could she resort to such hypocrisy?’ said Kamal Lohani.
Pankaj Bhattacharya asked Hasina to question her conscience how she could take the side of the ‘Osman family that picked extreme notoriety’.
‘It has been six years into the murder of Tawqi but the trial process is stopped even RAB completed investigation,’ he said, ‘The state mechanism takes the role of supporting sinners, killers and bustards’.
Serajul Islam Choudhury said the episode of Tawqi murder is completely political.
‘Tawqi is the manifestation of people’s insecurity and helplessness to the state machineries,’ he said.
Sarwar Ali said everyone in Narayanganj know about who are the murders of Tawqi, but the trial process has been stopped because of the involvement of politically powerful persons who are needed for the government.
Mujahidul Islam Selim said the politics behind the murder of Tawqi was clear to everyone.
‘I condemn the prime minister that she, in the parliament, announced her stance by the murders of Tawqi,’ he said.
Anu Muhammad said a narrative has been made in the society that no justice would be done if the killers are linked to the power.
‘As the prime minister announced her stance by the killer family, no agencies have capability to put forward the case,’ he said.
MM Akash said the Tawqi murder was not mere a murder, rather it was a political murder.
‘Justice to Tawqi will be done only if the prime minister, being the top authority of the politics, agrees to do so,’ he said.
Journalist Mizanur Rahman Khan urged the eminent citizens to go to the Supreme Court to seek judicial intervention in the murder case as he said there was scope of pointing to the court about the draft charge sheet, provided to the media by the Rapid Action Battalion, to put forward the case.
Rafiur Rabbi said there were countless murder before and after Tawqi murder and the sole perpetrators are the Osman family.
He demanded justice to every murders in Narayanganj and other brutal murders including of Tonu, Mitu, Sagar and Runi.
Tawqi, 17, an A-level student of the ABC International School in the city, was abducted on March 6, 2013 and his body was found in a canal in the city after two days.
His father Rafiur Rabbi filed a case with the Narayanganj police on March 8, 2013 against some unnamed people.
He, however, named seven people including ruling Awami League MP AKM Shamim Osman, his son Ayon Osman, their associates Jahirul Islam Parvej, who went missing few months after the killing of Tawqi, Mizanur Rahman Sujon, Rajib Das, Saleh Rahman Simanta and Rifat.
Rapid Action Battalion, the investigating agency of the case, had announced at a press conference in March 2014 that they had detected why, when, where, who and how Tawqi was murdered.
The then battalion additional director general Ziaul Ahsan said they found involvement of Ajmeri Osman, nephew of Shamim Osman, and 10 others in the murder.
The battalion even provided the media a draft charge sheet and said they would submit the charge sheet to the court soon.
But the charge sheet is yet to be submitted to the court.
