Police have said they have shown four people detained over defacing wall art depicting Rabindranath outside the Shilpakala Academy in Segunbagicha, Dhaka, as arrested in a sedition case.
Sheikh Zahidul Islam, deputy commissioner (DC) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) Ramna Division, told Prothom Alo on Sunday that the information was correct. He said, “Four people have been shown as arrested in a case filed over allegations of anti-state activities in connection with the incident.”
The four arrested individuals are ANM Ayash, 29, Md Sakibul Hasan, 19, Md Sujon Mia, 18, and Marzia Khandaker Rimi, 27.
On Saturday, several people, including ANM Ayash, member secretary of an organisation called the State Dialogue Forum, went to deface the wall arti depicting Rabindranath Tagore outside the Shilpakala Academy in Segunbagicha.
On the same day, Abdul Khaleque, a sub-inspector (SI) on duty at Shahbagh police station, told Prothom Alo that police had detained a man named Ayash outside the Shilpakala Academy and taken him to the police station. He had attempted to erase the graffiti related to Tagore.
On 5 October, Dhaka South City Corporation cleared the pavements in Segunbagicha of encroachments. Subsequently, portraits of 10 distinguished figures who had contributed to the country’s art, literature and culture were painted on the walls beside the pavements. They included Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, Satyajit Ray, Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam.
The area was later opened to pedestrians. New bins were installed along the pavements, benches were built for pedestrians to rest on, and boundary walls were renovated.
ANM Ayash has attracted public attention and criticism for various reasons, including programmes surrounding the July mass uprising, the incident at Dhanmondi 32, clashes with political opponents and an attack in which he himself was a victim.