Desk Report,
A judge and three police officers faced punishment for uncovering the truth
In July 2024, four buses of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) in Chittagong were set on fire on the orders of a Sramik League leader during the mass uprising. The police arrested the Sramik League leader and the person who set the bus on fire. The accused gave a confessional statement in court. The ousted Awami League government at that time had placed all the blame on the protesters. But the administration wavered when the arson attack by the Sramik League leader, an affiliate of the Awami League, was leaked.
A judge and three police officers faced punishment for uncovering the truth
Three police officers and a judge faced punishment for arresting and taking the statement of the Sramik League leader. Although the three police officers were given a show cause notice by the police superintendent and the judge’s power to take cognizance of the crime was reduced, it did not take effect for long after the Awami League was ousted from power on August 5. The BRTC depot is located on a six-acre plot of land in the city’s Notunpara area on the Oxygen-Hathazari road. There are 92 government buses there. Four buses next to the depot’s cleaning shed were set on fire around 12 am on July 20 last year. The fire destroyed 16 seats of one bus and 8 seats of the other. The remaining two buses were partially burnt. This caused a total loss of Tk 10 lakh. In this incident, BRTC Depot Chittagong Manager Md. Zulfikar filed a case with Hathazari Police Station as the plaintiff. Two days after the incident, on July 22, the police arrested Sohel, the lagoon driver, after looking at the CCTV camera. Didarul was arrested on the same day based on the information received from him.
Sohel, the lagoon driver, and Didarul, the Sramik League leader, were arrested by Abu Zayed Md. Nazmun Noor, the OC of the Chittagong District Detective Branch (DB) Police. Later, when the then SI Rahmat Ullah of Hathazari Police Station, the investigating officer of the case, presented the accused in court, Sohel gave a confessional statement in the court of the then Judicial Magistrate of Chittagong, Awlad Hossain Mohammad Junaid. According to court sources, in his statement, Sohel said that he set fire to the BRTC bus on the orders of Bayezid Bostami Thana Sramik League leader President Didarul Alam. He was supposed to be given four lakh taka. He received 500 taka as an advance.
The issue was discussed as sensational information came out in Sohel’s statement during the nationwide anti-discrimination movement. The then government blamed the protesters for everything. But the administration wavered when the name of the Sramik League leader came up.
The then District DB OC Abu Zayed Md. Nazmun Nur, Hathazari Police Station OC Investigation Nurul Alam and Investigation Officer Rahmat Ullah were summoned by the then Chittagong District Superintendent of Police (SP) SM Shafi Ullah, seeking an explanation for the reason.
On July 27 last year, Abu Zayed Md. The letter of complaint to Nazmun Nur states, “The accused did not give any information to the SP about his arrest and confessional statement. In this incident, the SP had to face embarrassment before the higher authorities. Your extreme negligence, carelessness, inefficiency, indifference, laxity and unprofessionalism in performing your duties and responsibilities are a crime against departmental discipline and punishable. You must give an answer within seven days as to why departmental disciplinary action will not be taken against you.” Police Inspector Abu Zayed Md. Nazmun Nur, currently attached to the Chittagong Range DIG’s office, told Prothom Alo, “We have arrested the criminal. I did not see his party identity. For which I was complained about. The government fell before action was taken. I worked for the country with my utmost professionalism during that time in July. If the real accused had not been caught, all the blame would have been placed on the shoulders of the protesters.’
The then SI of Hathazari Police Station, Rahmat Ullah, currently working at Kadamtali Police Station in Dhaka, said, ‘After the accused was presented in court that day and given his statement, the situation was like this.’
When asked, the then Superintendent of Police of Chittagong District, currently OSD, SM Shafi Ullah, told Prothom Alo on Sunday, ‘Nothing was informed by the superiors about the arrest and statement of the accused, so I filed a complaint as per the rules.’
Not only the police, but the then Judicial Magistrate of Chittagong, currently working in Dhaka, Awlad Hossain Mohammad Junaid, who took the statement of the accused in this incident, was taken away from the power to take cognizance of the crime. That is, he does not have the power to take cognizance of any crime. He only has the power to conduct a trial with the witnesses of the case. Chittagong Chief Judicial Magistrate Kazi Shahidul Islam took away his cognizance powers on July 24, the day his statement was taken. It was returned on August 7 after the fall of the government.
