An attempt to murder case has been filed against 180 people, including acclaimed Supreme Court lawyer and rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra chairman ZI Khan Panna, for their alleged involvement in an attack to injure a youth during the anti-discrimination聽 student movement on July 19.
Victim Ahadul Islam鈥檚 father Md Baker filed the case with the Khilgaon police station in Dhaka on October 17, Khilgaon police station officer-in-charge Md Daud Hossain said on Sunday.
聽鈥榃e will investigate the case and find out whether lawyer ZI Khan Panna was involved in the alleged incident,鈥� the OC said.
Jurist Panna is also a trustee board member of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust.
The senior Supreme Court lawyer on Sunday submitted a pre-arrest bail petition to the High Court Division bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain, but no date of hearing was set, deputy attorney general Zahirul Islam Suman said.
Besides Panna, the other accused in the case include Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader, former home minister Asaduzzman Khan, former public administration minister Farhad Hossain, former inspector general of police Abdullah AL Mamun, former Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Habibur Rahman, former DMP detective branch chief Harun or Rashid, former DMP joint commissioner Biplab Kumar Sarkar, former Police Bureau of Investigation chief Banaj Kumar Majumder, former Rapid Action Battalion director general Harun-or-Rashid, and former BGB director general Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui.
According to the case statement, Ahadul along with others was staging demonstrations in the west side of Meradia Bazar during the recent student-mass uprising.
A group of members of the police and the Border Guard Bangladesh, and the leaders and activists of the Awami League opened fire on the protesters.
As Ahadul became injured after receiving bullets, he was taken to a nearby hospital from where he was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for better treatment.
ZI Khan Panna told 抖阴精品 that he had been raising his voice against the quota system in government jobs since 1972.
鈥業 stood by the students and people throughout the movement till August 5. I am astonished to see that I am an accused in a case of attempt to murder a student during the movement,鈥� Panna said.聽 聽聽聽
Different rights organisations including the ASK, the BLAST and the Human Rights Forum Bangladesh, in separate statements, condemned the 鈥榝alse case鈥� against Panna and demanded to withdraw his name from the case.
ASK said that Panna was vocal about human rights and the present situation in the country and suspected that a section of people might have been dissatisfied with him for his voice and implicated him in the case for harassing him.
Expressing deep concern, BLAST urged to withdraw Panna鈥檚 name from the case immediately and urged the authorities to investigate how his name was implicated in the case.
BLAST said that Panna was vocal in favour of the July-August mass-uprising and tirelessly provided legal support to students and people involved in the movement.
The statement said that Panna was the most senior lawyer in the writ petition filed by lawyers Manjur Al Matin Pritom and Aynunnahar Siddika Lipy to the High Court for not opening fire on the students during the movement.
BLAST feared that justice for the victims of the July-August uprising might be hindered if such cases were filed for harassing people.
Human Rights Forum Bangladesh, a coalition of 20 human rights and development organisations working for the promotion and protection of human rights in the country, in their statement also condemned filing the case against Panna.
HRFB also urged the authorities to withdraw the case immediately.
The signatories in the case include HRFB expert Sultana Kamal, Manusher Jonno Foundation executive director Shaheen Anam, Transparency International Bangladesh鈥檚 Iftekharuzzaman, BLAST executive director Sara Hossain, Nijera Kori coordinator Khushi Kabir and Bangladesh Mahila Parishad president Fauzia Moslem.
