1,544 accused in 36 lawsuits filed over 28 Oct clash: Police

As many as 36 lawsuits have been lodged against 1,544 people centering the clash and violence during the grand rally of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in Dhaka’s Naya Paltan on 28 October.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) media centre informed this to the media in an official message on Monday.

Most of the top leaders of de facto opposition BNP have been made accused in the cases filed centring the incidents of 28 October, reveals an analysis of eight such lawsuits.

Party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has been sent to jail after showing him arrested in a case filed at Ramna police station on charge of vandalising the residence of the Chief Justice. He was made accused in four cases including the one filed on charge of killing a police constable.

The other accused are BNP leader Mirza Abbas, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Abdul Awal Mintoo, Barkat Ullah Bulu, Joynul Abedin Faruq, JOynal Abedin, Ahmed Azam Khan, Nitai Roy Chowdhury, Shamsuzzaman, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Shahjahan Omar and Mahbub Uddin Khokon.

Prothom Alo could not know the other names as all the case statements could not be collected until filing of this report.

The cases have been filed on charges of killing and blasting crude explosive with the intention of killing police members, creating obstacles to government duties, vandalising the residence of the Chief Justice, arson, and snatching firearms of the police.

Most of the cases were filed by police members while a few were filed by the victims.

Speaking to the media at his office on Sunday morning, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan termed the whole incident as an example of barbarism. “Filing of cases has started. Many people will lodge lawsuits. The victims will file cases, the police hospital authorities will also file cases, and the police will file cases.”

A total of 1,727 people were arrested from eight zones of Dhaka Metropolitan Police for incidents related to violence and law and order situation in nine days from 21 October, said DMP.

Most of the arrests, 696 people, were made on the grand rally day of BNP on 28 October.

As many as 2,542 people were arrested on the previous day of the rally and another 256 were arrested on 29 October.

BNP alleged police arrested people en masse to dissuade the people from joining the rally by spreading fear. Despite the attempts, when a huge number of people turned up at the rally, the government then adopted the strategy of foiling the rally.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir issued a statement on the night of the rally, saying the government adopted a “master plan” to lead people to carrying out attacks seeing a huge number of people gathered at the rally.