Police arrest operation across the country, allegations of arrest for posting on Facebook

Due to the violence of the quota movement, the police are conducting arrest operations across the country

Due to the quota reform movement in Bangladesh, the number of arrests and cases in various parts of the country including Dhaka is increasing every day. There have been reports of arrests for just posting on Facebook or talking about the victims of the violence.

Nusrat Tabassum and Arif Sohail, the two coordinators of the anti-discrimination student movement who led the movement, were abducted by armed men in plain clothes, his family members alleged.

Dhaka Additional Commissioner of Police Mohammad Haroon Or Rasheed confirmed in a press conference on Sunday that Nusrat Tabassum and former BRAC University teacher Asif Mahtab have been taken into their custody. However, he did not comment on Arif Sohail.

Earlier, five other coordinators who led the quota movement were picked up by the police. They have not been arrested in any case but have been kept in police custody. Police officer Haroon Or Rashid claimed that they were taken into custody for ‘security reasons’.

Meanwhile, some locals claimed that many people who were not involved in the violence have moved from different areas including Mohammadpur, Banshree, Rampura in Dhaka due to fear of arrest and raids. These areas are also among the areas of Dhaka where there has been widespread violence.

Incidentally, there have been reports in the media of Bangladesh that at least 200 people have died in violence across the country due to the anti-quota student movement from the sixteenth to the nineteenth of July.

However, the country’s Home Minister Asaduzzaman Kamal said on Sunday that 147 people died in this violence, including 11 Awami League workers. He commented that the rest are students and common people.

Again, at least nine thousand people have been arrested across the country for their involvement in this violence. While some of them are accused in old cases, the police claim that the rest were involved in violence during the quota movement.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police reported that 207 cases have been filed in different police stations of Dhaka till Saturday. More than 2500 arrests have been made in these cases. On the other hand, about three hundred people have been arrested by RAB. The operation is still ongoing.

Block raids are being conducted in various areas at midnight. It has been alleged that the police are arresting many innocent people in these raids. There are allegations that students are being arrested when they are identified even if they are not involved in the violence. Allegations have also been made that opposition party leaders are being arrested for political reasons.

However, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Spokesperson (DC Media) Farooq Hossain says that the decision to arrest or detain a person is made only after reviewing all the documents.

Additional Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Intelligence Police Junaid Alam told BBC Bangla that DB police

Arrests and cases are ongoing

The number of cases and arrests are increasing day by day in various forms of vandalism including protests, violence and arson during the quota reform movement. Even apart from the students, many people who are working in different professions have been arrested.

In Sanarpar area of ​​Siddhirganj, Narayanganj, Sheikh Naimul Hossain Milton has been charged under the Explosives Act and has been accused of setting fire and stealing the cold storage of a former member of parliament in Dhaka.

His brother Nazmul Hossain denied the allegations, saying his brother was “picked up by the police in front of customers at his business”.

“My brother was not in the fight. My father is a freedom fighter. My brother was in the shop. He was taken from that situation,” said Mr. Hossein.

Meanwhile, from July 16th to July 19th, the police have been conducting ‘block raids’ at midnight for the last few days in the areas where violence has taken place, especially Rampura-Bansree and Mohammadpur areas. Many people have been arrested in these raids.

Bansree Society General Secretary Abdul Haque and his student son were arrested by the police from their house on road number one of C Block of Bansree.

The caretaker of the house, Aftab Uddin, told BBC Bangla that the two were arrested by the police on Saturday. Mr. Haque is reported to have made some comments about the victims at the mosque on Friday. However, it is not known what kind of comments he made.

Monir Hossain, manager of a nearby restaurant, told the BBC correspondent that he was also arrested by the police because of a post on Facebook.

“He was taken to the police station. They said I posted on Facebook. Later they checked and released me,” he told BBC Bangla.

Residents of Madhyapara, Bhuiyapara and Dakshin Banshri areas of Banshri area said that special operations have been going on there for the past few days.

Incidentally, on July 18, there was an attack and arson attack on the BTV building in Rampura. After the attack on Rampura police station the next day, the marks of heavy shelling are still visible in shops and houses.

Several gunshot wounds were seen on the front of a saloon near the police station on Sunday. The bullet went through two panes of glass and hit the inner wall.

On the other hand, a resident of Mohammadpur said that extensive operations have been going on in Basila area for the past few days. During the violence in the area, some claimed that bullets fired from helicopters hit the roofs of many houses.

On the other hand, police operations are underway in some areas outside Dhaka including Narayanganj, Gazipur, Savar, Keraniganj and Doha.

About five hundred people have been arrested in 24 cases in Narayanganj in the last few days. 39 cases have been registered in Gazipur and around 400 people have been arrested.

About nine hundred people have been arrested in a total of thirty cases in Chittagong district and metropolis. About three hundred people have been arrested in Bogra and about fifteen cases have been registered.

And the Dhaka Metropolitan Police has already said that they have arrested more than 2500 people in more than 200 cases.

Among those who have been arrested, there are many leaders and workers of BNP.

Tito Hossain of Patuakhali tells BBC Bangla that the police are looking for BNP leaders and activists from house to house in their village.

On the other hand, there was an overcrowding in the court of Dhaka last Friday and Saturday. As many of the arrested have been directly sent to jail, some have been remanded by the police.

On what basis so many arrests

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Spokesperson (DC Media) Farooq Hossain told BBC Bangla that all arrests are being made based on specific information.

“We have CCTV footage of every area. In addition, through several other means, we collect footage and analyze it to identify those involved. They are then verified through sources. Thus, the operation was conducted after a decision was taken to detain a person after several stages of investigation,” he told BBC Bangla.

It is to be noted that after so many things happened around the anti-quota movement, finally the Appellate Division gave a verdict directing that 93 percent of the job quota be based on merit. Based on this, the government has already issued a notification.

Earlier, after the 2018 anti-quota movement in Bangladesh, the High Court canceled the circular issued by the government canceling the quota on June 5. The High Court gave that judgment following a petition filed by the children of the freedom fighters.

Later, the government appealed against the verdict. But in the meantime, the students started protesting.

From the second of July, the movement started gathering seeds. Later, six people including Abu Saeed died in the violence on the sixteenth of July due to a series of incidents. After that, till Friday 19th July, the death toll of the violence exceeded 150 in the media. Thousands of people were injured.

During this time several important government buildings including Narsingdi prison were also attacked, vandalized and set on fire.

The government blamed BNP Jamaat for these incidents, but they rejected the allegations. Both groups have accused the government of killing students in unprovoked firing.