Guardians strongly refute charges brought against arrested BUET students

Guardians of the students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), who were arrested in Sunamganj on Sunday, have demanded immediate release of their sons and claimed that the police allegations are baseless, fabricated, and motivated.

During a press briefing at the central Shaheed Minar of the engineering and technology university on Tuesday, they said the arrested students are innocent and not involved in any type of politics.

The police arrested a total of 34 students, including 24 from BUET, on charges of "hatching secret conspiracy against the government and disrupting public safety" during a pleasure trip on boat in Sunamganj.

The police said among the arrestees, 24 are current BUET students -- six first-year students, six second-year students, five third-year students, five fourth-year students, and two postgraduate students. The remaining 10 include seven recent alumni of BUET, two SSC-level students, and a worker of a BUET student's residence.

At the press briefing, Ali Ahsan Junayed, brother of Ali Ammar Mouaj, read out a written statement on behalf of the guardians. He said the students went on a pleasure trip to Tanguar Haor in Sunamganj on 29 July and remained out of reach for hours.

Around 10:00 pm on the day, the parents received calls from their children, who disclosed that the police had detained them and taken them to Tahirpur police station for questioning during the boat trip. As per the police instruction, they asked for their own and parents' national identity (NID) card numbers during the telephone conversation. They also told the guardians that the police had assured them of release after getting the NID numbers.

The students could only make the request to their guardians during the call as the police took away their phones, Ali Ahsan Junayed said, adding that they could not reach the responsible police officials despite repeated attempts.

Later, the guardians learned from media reports on Monday afternoon that the students were sued under the anti-terrorism act and accused of planning sabotage.

Expressing shock over the allegations, the guardians described them as ridiculous, fabricated, and motivated. They tried to reach the BUET vice-chancellor over the phone, but this attempt was unsuccessful too.

They received the case statement on Tuesday afternoon and noticed that the students were accused of disrupting public safety through terrorist activities, causing harm to life and property, engaging in seditious activities, and conspiring against the government through Jihad.

"The entire incident has made us seriously concerned," the statement added.

The guardians strongly refuted the charges and insisted that their children were not involved in any anti-state activities. They stood firm in their claim that their children were general students and questioned the motive behind framing such a serious case against them.

The press conference was attended by other guardians, including Wahida Nasreen, mother of ATM Abrar Muhtadi; Fatema Begum, mother of Haisam bin Mahbub; Anwarul Haq, father of Afif Anwar; Jamal Uddin Chowdhury, father of Sakib Shahriar; and Arif Billah, brother of Baki Billah.

Meanwhile, the court sent 32 of the arrestees to prison and the remaining ones to a juvenile rehabilitation centre. The police claimed all the arrestees to be leaders and activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e Islami.

Superintendent of Sunamganj police Rajan Kumar Das said they will seek remand for the BUET students for further investigation.

Abul Basher, a lawyer and former president of the student front's Sunamganj district unit, said they are still unaware of how many of the arrestees are involved with Chhatra Shibir.

"Truly, they came to the haor on a pleasure trip, but the police arrested them for harassment," he added.

In a conversation with Prothom Alo, the boat owner, Ahadul Islam, said he rented the boat to the students under a Tk 25,000 contract. The students reached Tahirpur sadar at around 10:00 am on Sunday and started the boat trip at 12:00 pm.

However, a police team intercepted the boat around 3:30 pm and took the students, along with the boatman, to the Tahirpur police station. The police later released Ahadul but kept the boat at the police station.