Desk Report,
Student Rina Murmu blames Sheikh Hasina for Abu Sayeed’s murder
Student Rina Murmu testified as the fourth witness in a case filed against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and three others on charges of crimes against humanity during the July uprising on Wednesday. Rina is a student of Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur.
Student Rina Murmu blames Sheikh Hasina for Abu Sayeed’s murder
She blamed Sheikh Hasina for the killing of Abu Sayeed, a student of Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur, during the July uprising.
Rina Murmu testified before the three-member International Crimes Tribunal-1 headed by Justice Md. Golam Mortuza Majumder on Wednesday. The other two members of the tribunal are Justice Shafiul Alam Mahmud and Judge Mohitul Haque Enam Chowdhury. In her statement, Rina Murmu said that there was no committee at Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur during last year’s quota reform movement. She was one of the front-runners in the movement. On July 16, several thousand students protesting from the city’s Chartala intersection came to Gate No. 1 of Begum Rokeya University with a procession. Police, university administration personnel, and Chhatra League leaders and activists were already stationed there. When they tried to enter the campus through Gate No. 1, a scuffle broke out with the police. At one stage, the police charged with batons and lobbed tear gas shells. Then the students dispersed.
At that time, Rina told the tribunal that she had taken shelter in a tea shop opposite Gate No. 1 of the university. She said that at that time, the police and Chhatra League first beat Abu Sayeed. They beat him with batons as best they could. After a while, Abu Sayeed stood a little in front of the road divider. Then, two policemen shot Abu Sayeed from in front of Gate No. 1 of the university. Abu Sayeed fell. Then, some people came and took Abu Sayeed towards the park intersection. Rina said that she saw these scenes from where she was standing. At around 3:30 pm, she learned that Abu Sayeed had died.
Rina Murmu gave a statement blaming the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Rangpur Metropolitan Police, Begum Rokeya University administration, Chhatra League and those who had shot him for the incident.
As the movement demanding quota reform in government jobs spread across the country, Abu Sayeed was shot dead by police at the Park intersection in front of Begum Rokeya University on July 16 last year. 25-year-old Abu Sayeed was a 12th batch student of the English Department of the university. He was also one of the coordinators of the university’s quota reform movement. The police were shooting Abu Sayeed during the students’ program—that scene was broadcast live on the country’s TV channels. The video of the unarmed Abu Sayeed being shot in front of the university went viral instantly. This caused a strong reaction across the country and the students and the public became angry with the protest. Immediately, a new dimension was added to the anti-discrimination movement and public involvement greatly increased.
In the wake of that movement, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India on August 5 last year in the face of a student-public uprising demanding a single point of “Hasina’s resignation.”
