BNP leaders among 3,000 sued, 14 put on remand

Arrested BNP activists in a police van shout slogans while pro-BNP lawyers, too, chant slogans to support them on the Dhaka CMM court premises when police bring the arrested activists to the court on Thursday. — Sourav Lasker 

The police on Thursday filed four cases with the Paltan, Motijheel, Shahjahanpur and Ramna police stations against some 3,000 leaders and activists of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party over Wednesday’s clash in front of its Naya Paltan central office and at nearby places, which left an activist killed and over a hundred injured.

The police took control of and barricaded the road from the Nightingale Crossing to the Fakirap[ool Crossing at Naya Paltan after the clash,  halting the traffic movement, and locked up the BNP central office designating it as a ‘crime scene’ as law enforcers claimed to have recovered crude bombs and other explosive there.

Police also prevented BNP secretary general Mirza Faklhrul Islam Alamgir from going to and entering the party office on Thursday morning.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner for media Faruk Hossain said that police arrested about 500 people in the four cases and sent them to court for next legal steps.

He said that the case with the Paltan police station was lodged against 470 named and 2,000 unnamed BNP leaders and activists while the case with the Shahjahanpur police station was against 52 named and 250 unnamed, the case with the Motijheel police station was against 28 named and many unnamed and the case with the Ramna police station was against 168 named others.

The police officer added that their drive would continue to nab the other accused people.

Lawyer Masud Talukder, who represented the accused BNP leaders and activists in a Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court,  said that the court granted two-day remand each for 14 arrested leaders and activists in the case with the Paltan police station.

The police had sought seven-day remand for each in police custody.

A total of 435 other arrested leaders and activists, including the BNP’s senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Dhaka south city unit convener Abdus Salam and central leader Khairul Kabir Khokon and publicity secretary Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie, were sent to jail.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Tofazzal Hossain granted bail to the BNP’s Dhaka north city unit convener Amanullah Aman.

The clash between police and BNP activists erupted at about 2:30pm on Wednesday in front of the BNP central office as hundreds of police in riot gear and armoured personnel carriers, accompanied by water cannons, swooped on the BNP leaders and activists there.

Witnesses said that the police started the attack without prior warning as the BNP leaders and activists were shouting slogans against the government and for their Dhaka division’s mass rally scheduled for December 10.

BNP activists responded to the attack by pelting brickbats at poice, triggering the clash, which left Jatiyatabadi Swechchhasebak Dal activist Mokbul Hossain, 43, killed by a bullet.

The BNP said that more than a hundred of their activists were injured in police action while the DMP said that 47 of their force members were wounded in the BNP attacks, including a constable in a critical condition.

The police case statements over the clash said that BNP leaders and activists gathered at Naya Paltan and in adjacent areas illegally for subversive activities. They attacked police personnel on duty, vandalised vehicles, barred the force members from discharging their duties, hurled crude bombs at police personnel there and destroyed government properties.

According to the case statements, police fired about 1,050 rounds of birdshots, 167 rounds of teargas shells, six sound grenades, 410 shotgun pellets and 56 rounds of soft kinetic projectiles to disperse the opposition activists.

Meanwhile, a heavy police presence was seen in Naya Paltan area, including at the Nightingale Crossing and the Fakirapool Crossing, since Thursday morning as the police blocked and took control of the road and locked the BNP central office.

The police halted traffic movements on the road for the entire day. The barricades were removed in the evening.

Asked about the locking of the BNP office, DMP joint commissioner for operations Biplab Kumar Sarker said that the office was a ‘crime scene’ since crude bombs and explosives were recovered there.

He said that police cordoned off the BNP office, adding that none except police experts will be allowed there and the office will remain closed until the police investigation is complete.

JC Biplab said that BNP activists hurled crude bombs from the party office and there might be more explosives there and, therefore, a police search was on.

On Wednesday, Fakhrul alleged that police had entered the BNP office with bags full of explosives in a bid to stage a drama of seizing explosive substances and implicate the BNP leaders and activists in cases under the Explosive Substances Act.

Opposition activists tried to gather in Naya Paltan area in the afternoon on Wednesday, but police dispersed them by opening three rounds of fire in the air, said witnesses.

Policemen were also guarding alleys around the BNP Naya Paltan office to thwart BNP activists from gathering near the party office.

Although the police did not allow BNP activists in Naya Paltan area on Thursday, leaders and activists of pro-Awami League Bangladesh Chhatra League and Juba League brought out processions and staged showdowns on the roads there in front of police personnel without facing any obstacle during the day.

Meanwhile, pro-BNP lawyers demonstrated at the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court premises on Tuesday afternoon, when a number of prison vans carrying arrested BNP leaders and activists arrived there.

The protesters chanted slogans demanding immediate release of the BNP leaders and activists and protested against government repression on the opposition leaders and activists, said lawyer Masud.

The protesters had also heated augments with police personnel there several times.

The opposition leaders and activists in the prison vans, too, shouted anti-government slogans.

A huge number of police and Rapid Action Battalion members were deployed in the court area.

New Age