The arrest drives of the law and order enforcement forces continues all over the country in connection to the incidents of agitation, clashes, conflict, vandalism and arson centering the movement of quota reform in government jobs. The number of total arrests has surpassed 9,000 in 11 days till last Saturday. This has been reported by police sources in seven cities and 60 districts of the country.
The students started a continuous programme with the demand quota reform on 1 July. Though the movement was peaceful towards the beginning it took a different turn after the attack from Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party. Later the movement spread throughout the country. The law and order enforcement forces tried to suppress the movement through the application of force. This led to violence and destruction.
The government can take legal action against anyone if they commit violence. But, arresting thousands of people as suspects cannot be desirable in any way.
The police along with the RAB started a combing operation in the capital from the night of 21 July. As part of the arrest operation, ‘block raids’ are being conducted in different areas on the capital. Plus, lists are being drawn up by analysing the video footages and photographs to identify who were involved in the violence.
Alongside students and people of different professions, there are also the leaders and activists of BNP, Jammat-e-Islami and their affiliated organisations on the list of people arrested by the law and order enforcement forces. The government can take legal action against anyone if they commit violence. But, arresting thousands of people as suspects cannot be desirable in any way.
Assistant commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in Badda zone, Rajan Kumar Saha claimed, “We conducted operations with the help of army and BGB to capture the people committing violence. Only the miscreants have been arrested.”
A photograph published on Sunday showed a 17-years-old student being produced before the court with his hands tied. No minor can be arrested like this.
This is as clear as daylight that the leaders and activists of the Chhatra League and Jubo League were also involved in the violence committed centering the quota reform movement. But only the students participating in the movement are being arrested selectively. If the arrests are being made from examining the video footages, the leaders and activists of Chhatra League and Jubo League are not supposed to be excluded either.
If only the people who were involved in the violence are being arrested, why were those who were not even present at the scene arrested? Several ministers of the government have said that no action will be taken against those who are not involved in the violence. But in reality, people who were standing on the side of the road or even those who were not present at the scene are also being arrested.
When it comes to these sorts of raids, it is noticed that the law and order enforcement forces file cases against unidentified people at first. Later, the names of those who are arrested as suspects are shown as accused.
A photograph published on Sunday showed a 17-years-old student being produced before the court with his hands tied up. No minor can be arrested like this. If there were specific allegations against him, he could have been taken to the juvenile court. Not only that adolescent, but also children aged 13 and 14 were allegedly arrested and taken to court.
In this type of raids there’s a competition among the police to show more number of accused in cases. The law and order enforcement forces must abide by the law in conducting arrest operations. The fundamental rights given to citizens by the constitution cannot be violated. The responsibility of protecting people’s lives and properties relies on the law and order enforcement forces. They failed to do so. Harassing harmless and innocent people through mass arrests must be stopped immediately.