Police have picked up three top leaders of the Bangladesh Students’ Rights Council (BSRC) on Sunday, claimed family members.
Abu Hanif, joint convener BSRC, told media that the organization’s Dhaka University unit Vice President Nazmul Huda was picked up by officials of Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) from the capital’s Moghbazar area around 2:30pm.
Saiful Islam and Sohrab Hossain – joint secretaries of the independent student organization’s central committee – were also picked up by police from Dhaka, Hanif further claimed.
Of the three, Nazmul Huda is one of the several accused in the rape case recently filed by a Dhaka University student.
Nazmul’s mother Bakul said that her son had gone to Moghbazar to attend a job interview on Sunday afternoon.
“At one point, DB police picked him up from there. Nazmul told me this over the phone,” she added.
When the organization’s members, activists and family members of the three went to the DB headquarters in Dhaka, officials denied having any information of them being picked up by the police.
When contacted, Mahbub Alam, joint commissioner of DMP DB, said: “I am now aware of them (the Bangladesh Students’ Rights Council leaders] being kept in our custody.”
Earlier on September 21, a student of Dhaka University accused Nurul Haque Nur, former DU Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) vice president, of abetting rape.
The victim filed the case against six persons, including Nazmul, with Lalbagh police station.
All of the accused are members and leaders of Bangladesh Students’ Rights Council as well as current and former students of Dhaka University.
According to case documents, the rape incident took place on January 3 this year, when prime accused Hasan Al Mamun, convener of the independent student body, allegedly raped the victim.
The others, accused of abetting the crime, are Nazmul Hassan Shohag and Md Saiful Islam, joint conveners of Bangladesh Students’ Rights Council, Nazmul Huda, vice president of the organization’s DU unit, and Abdullah Hil Baki, a student of the university and an activist of the organization that spearheaded the quota reform movement in 2018.
