Desk Report,
Investigation into July Uprising case in Chittagong is progressing slowly, 5 percent of accused arrested
So far, 151 cases have been filed in Chittagong for the casualties caused by the July uprising. Although almost a year has passed since the uprising, only one case has been investigated. Only 5 percent of the accused have been arrested in a year.
Investigation into July Uprising case in Chittagong is progressing slowly, 5 percent of accused arrested
Police said that in most of the cases, the accused have been made indiscriminately. In some cases, the complaint is flawed. Again, in many cases, the plaintiff has given an affidavit to exclude some of the accused. Apart from this, the investigation is progressing slowly due to the lack of autopsy in some cases and the late arrival of the report. However, evidence is being collected to ensure that the real culprit does not escape.
According to police and court sources, 69 of the 151 cases in Chittagong have been filed in 9 police stations in the city and district. The rest are complaint cases (CR) filed in the court. The number of accused named in these cases is 13,450. The number of unidentified accused is at least 30,000. Among the accused are the names of Awami League leaders and activists, as well as individuals not associated with politics, businessmen and people of various professions. Police sources said that in the 69 cases filed at the police station in Chittagong, there are a total of 21,906 accused. Of these, 7,226 are registered accused and 14,680 are unidentified accused. As of July 15, 1,201 accused have been arrested. The arrest rate is 5 percent of the accused. Among the notable accused who have not been caught are former Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud, former Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury, former Chittagong City Mayors AJM Nasir Uddin and Rezaul Karim, central Jubo League leader Helal Akbar Chowdhury, former general secretary of the city Chhatra League Nurul Azim, former councilor Nur Mostafa, and Shaibal Das. Out of the 69 cases filed at the police station, 15 are murder cases. The only case where the investigation has been completed is a murder case.
Russell Ahmed, former central coordinator of the anti-discrimination student movement and central organizer of the Jatiya Nagorik Party (Northern Region), told Prothom Alo, “It is sad that most of the main accused have not been arrested even after a year. Even though the accused regularly post on social media, the police cannot find them. We want justice for those who have our blood on their hands. However, we also want innocent people not to be harassed.” Law enforcement officials said that in some cases, a group has done a round of ‘trading’ at the beginning. There are allegations that the names of the accused were added and removed in exchange for money after circulating the draft complaint on social media. On January 2, Chittagong Metropolitan Police Commissioner Hasib Aziz issued a media notice asking the city residents to be careful about ‘case-trading’. As of last April, the plaintiffs have filed an affidavit in the court to remove the names of 675 accused from 40 cases. Although the four plaintiffs were contacted to inquire about giving the affidavit, they refused to say anything. When contacted, some investigating officers said that the case file states that the person who led the attack was not involved in the attack, but the plaintiff himself says that the person was not involved in the attack. This is hampering the investigation.
Madrasa student Nizam Uddin (21) was shot dead in the Laldighi Par area of the city on August 5 last year while participating in the anti-discrimination student-public movement. He was taken to his village home in Begumganj, Noakhali and buried that day. No post-mortem examination or autopsy was conducted on his body. On July 1 this year, his father Sahab Uddin filed a case with the Kotwali police station in the city. Nizam’s father Sahab Uddin told Prothom Alo, “There were no police, doctors, or environment to conduct post-mortem examinations that day. The big thing is that we were able to bury our son’s body.” The investigating officer of the case, Kotwali Police Station Sub-Inspector (SI) Khalid Hasan told Prothom Alo, “The autopsy report and the body examination are very important to prove the crime in a murder case. For this, the body of the deceased Nizam will be exhumed from the grave and an application will be made to the court for an autopsy.” The plaintiff in another murder case is Abdul Motaleb. His son Kausar Mahmud was a student of BGC Trust University. He was shot at the New Market roundabout in Kausar Nagar on August 4 last year. He later died while undergoing treatment at CMH in Dhaka on October 13. In the case filed in this incident, Debashish Guha Bulbul, the Liberation War Affairs Secretary of Chittagong City Awami League, was named as accused number 55 and Amal Mitra, a member of the executive committee of the city Awami League, was named as accused number 58. However, Amal Mitra died on May 7, 2023. Debashish Guha Bulbul died in 2020 after contracting COVID-19. Among the accused in the case are Awami League’s Chittagong Metropolitan Committee’s Forest and Environment Secretary Mashiur Rahman, former councilor Jahar Lal Hazari, Nagar Swechchhasebak League President Debashish Nath, Nagar Swechchhasebak League General Secretary Azizur Rahman, Nagar Chhatra League General Secretary Zakaria Dastagir, Nagar Chhatra League’s former General Secretary Nurul Azim and Nagar Awami League’s Information and Research Secretary Chandan Dhar. 91 people, including former ministers Hasan Mahmud and Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury, have been named in the case. When asked, Abdul Motaleb, the plaintiff in the case and the father of the deceased Kausar, told Prothom Alo, “I don’t know how the deceased person became an accused.” When asked, the investigating officer of the case, Kotwali Police Station SI Monirul Alam, told Prothom Alo that if someone who is dead or innocent is an accused, their names will be dropped from the investigation.
