A madrassah student who lost his vision in one eye during the July-August mass uprising in 2024 has filed a case against 167 people, including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and several former ministers, accusing them of orchestrating the attack that left him severely injured.
The case was filed on June 17 with Khulshi Police Station in Chattogram by Saifuddin Muhammad Emdad, an Alim student of Dhaka Government Alia Madrassah, said the police station officer-in-charge Aftab Hossain.
The accused include former road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, former law minister Anisul Huq, former foreign minister Hasan Mahmud, former food minister Qamrul Islam, former education minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury, former information and broadcasting affairs state minister Mohammad Ali Arafat, and former lawmakers MA Motaleb, Syed Nazibul Bashar Maizvandary, Abu Reza Muhammad Nezamuddin, and ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury.
Chattogram City Corporation鈥檚 former mayors Rezaul Karim Chowdhury and M Manjur Alam and three former ward councillors were also named in the case as accused persons, the police said.
The case further implicates several leading industrialists, including former lawmaker and Hamim Group chairman AK Azad, PHP Group chairman Sufi Muhammad Mizanur Rahman and his son Amir Hossain, Iqbal Hossain, Mohammed Akther Parvez, former FBCCI president Mahbubul Alam and his daughter Raisa Mahbub, and GPH Ispat Ltd managing director Almas Shimul.
The plaintiff also accused four journalists in the case. They are Rafiqul Bahar, former residential editor of Ekushey TV, Hamid Ullah, the Chattogram bureau chief of the Amader Shomoy, Md Mohiuddin, a senior reporter of Amader Shomoy and Masudul Haque, the Chattogram bureau chief of DBC News.
According to the case statement, Emdad participated in protest against discrimination on August 4, 2024 at New Market intersection in Chattogram city. During the demonstration, he was allegedly shot by armed cadres of the Chhatra League and Juba League.
Despite being injured in the leg, he rejoined a procession the following day in Badurtala, defying curfew, and was attacked again by the same group. This time, he sustained shotgun pellet injuries to his face and body, resulting in the loss of vision in his right eye and deterioration of sight in his left eye, the case statement alleged.
It said that he was initially given treatment at Chattogram Medical College Hospital and was later shifted to Chevron Hospital and then to the National Institute of Ophthalmology in Dhaka, before receiving care at the Combined Military Hospital.
Despite extensive treatment, he has permanently lost sight in one eye, the complaint said.
