A Dhaka metropolitan magistrate court on Friday sent 16 people, including former minister Abdul Latif Siddique and Dhaka University Professor Sheikh Hafizur Rahman, to jail in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Different political parties and cultural organisations, including the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Jasod, the Socialist Party of Bangladesh, the Biplobi Communist League, and Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigoshthi, in separate statements on Friday, protested at Thursday鈥檚 incident of mob attack on the participants of a discussion organised by Mancha 71 at Dhaka Reporters鈥� Unity in the capital.聽聽
Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Sarah Farzana Haque sent Latif Siddique and 15 others to jail when Shahbagh police produced them before the court and sought the court鈥檚 permission to keep them in custody until the completion of the investigation.
Besides Latif and Hafizur, those who were sent to jail are Md Abdullah Al Amin, 73, Manjurul Alam, 49, Qazi ATM Anisur Rahman Bulbul, 72, Golam Mostafa, 81, Md Mohiul Islam Babu, 64, Md Zakir Hossain, 74, Md Tousiful Bari Khan, 72, Md Amir Hossain Sumon, 37, Md Al Amin, 40, Md Nazmul Ahsan, 35, Syed Shahed Hasan, 36, Md Shafikul Islam Delwar, 64, Dewan Mohammad Ali, 50, and Abdullahil Qaium, 61.
Defence lawyers, including Farzana Yeasmin Rakhi, argued for bail for the arrested ones, while Public prosecutor Md Shamsuddoha Sumon opposed the bail petitions.
During the hearing, DU teacher Hafizur Rahman told the court to release them immediately and sought Tk 50 crore in compensation for what he described as harassment, saying that their constitutional rights had been violated.
鈥榃e were attacked by a mob and then arrested instead of those who carried out the assault,鈥� he told the court.
Defence lawyers submitted bail petitions for most of the arrestees, but Latif Siddique refused to sign on the vakalatnama to seek bail.
Later, lawyer Saiful Islam said to journalists, 鈥榃hen I approached Latif Siddique for his signature to file a bail petition, he repeatedly said, 鈥榃hy seek bail from a court that has no authority to grant it? I will not sign the vakalatnama, and I will not seek bail.鈥�
On August 28, a group of people claiming to be 鈥楯uly Jodda鈥� stormed into a hall of the Dhaka Reporter鈥� Unity where a discussion organised by Mancha 71, a newly launched platform by 1971 freedom fighters, was in progress, surrounded and besieged the participants, including Latif Siddique, accusing them of being loyal to the ousted Awami League.
The group also allegedly assaulted some of the participants of the discussion. They allegedly assaulted an elderly man named Keshab Ranjan Sarkar at the venue, while Abdullahil Qayyum, a leader of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, was beaten up while leaving the spot.
The police later arrived there and the group handed the 16 people over to the police.
The police took them to the Detective Branch office on Mintoo Road and interrogated them till midnight.
Later, a case was filed by sub-inspector Amirul Islam against the 16 people with Shahbagh police station under the Anti-Terrorism Act early Friday.
The police later showed them arrested in the case, which accuses them of plotting to topple the current interim government.
The discussion, organised by 鈥楳ancha 71鈥�, titled 鈥極ur Great Liberation War and the Constitution of Bangladesh鈥� at the DRU鈥檚 Shafiqul Kabir Auditorium was scheduled to be attended by eminent jurist and Gono Forum鈥檚 emeritus president Dr Kamal Hossain as the chief guest.
The platform is coordinated by professor Abdullah Al Mahmud and senior Supreme Court lawyer ZI Khan Panna.
The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Jasod in a statement on Friday strongly condemned the arrest of its joint general secretary Abdullahil Kaiyum, Dhaka University teacher, journalists, and others from a discussion at DRU, and sending them to jail.
The party demanded the detainees鈥� unconditional release and withdrawal of the 鈥榝alse鈥� cases, and warned that mob violence and such repressive actions undermined democracy and the rule of law.
Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigoshthi, in a separate statement, condemned the mob attack on the 鈥楳anch 71鈥� event at Dhaka Reporters鈥� Unity, where a freedom fighter, a university teacher, and others were allegedly assaulted, calling it a shameful attack on the spirit of the liberation war.
They accused the government of silence and patronizing mob violence and demanded immediate action against those involved in the attack.
Biplobi Communist League, in a statement, said that the mob attack by 鈥榝undamentalist groups鈥� during the 鈥楳anch 71鈥� discussion on the liberation war and constitution, followed by the arrest of organisers and speakers by the police, was unacceptable.