DB releases six coordinators of Students Against Discrimination

The six coordinators of the students against discrimination, a platform that waged the quota reform movement, have been released from the custody of the Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

They came out of the DB office around 1:30 pm in a black car.

DB’s Ramna zone additional commissioner (ADC) Azhar Mukul confirmed their release. Earlier, the families of the six coordinators entered into the DB office.

Three coordinators of the quota reform movement were picked up from the Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital in Dhaka on 26 July afternoon. They are Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Abu Baker.

Nahid and Asif were undergoing medical treatment there while Baker was accompanying them.

On the next evening, the DB picked up two more coordinators - Sarjis Alam and Hasnat Abdullah. Then in the crack of dawn on Sunday, another coordinator  Nusrat Tabassum was detained from her relative’s residence in Mirpur in the city.

Since then, the six coordinators were kept at the DB office at Minto Road in the city.

DB claimed that they picked up the coordinators and kept them at safe custody as they were feeling insecure.

Earlier, following the students’ countrywide complete shutdown programme and subsequent clashes, Nahid Islam was picked up from his friend’s residence in the Nandipara area of Khilgaon on 19 July.

One day later, he was left in the Purbachal area of the city, with injuries in different parts of his body. He had since been receiving treatment at the Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital.

The two other coordinators – Asif and Abu Baker – were also abducted on the same day, and were released five days later. Asif had also been receiving treatment at the hospital since then, while Abu Baker was accompanying him there.

Two lawyers, Manjul Al-Matin and Ainunnahar Siddika, filed a writ on Monday seeking the releases of the six coordinators and the court’s directives on not firing live bullets on the protestors across the country.

The writ was heard at the double bench on Monday and Tuesday and it was on serial no. 10 on the cause list for Wednesday.

A court source said the hearing could not be held on Wednesday as one of the double bench justices, SM Masud Hossain Dolon, took two days’ leave for Wednesday and Thursday due to illness.