Although the overall crime scenario remained almost unchanged in 2015 compared to that of the previous year, at least 30 sensational incidents, including the killing of foreign nationals and attacks on masques and churches have drawn international attention.
Sources at the Police Headquarters said they have recorded 30 incidents in 2015 as sensational ones, including the killing of two foreigners. Attacks on bloggers and freethinkers also continued in 2015.
The year 2015 started with a big challenge of political violence in January and it continued for the next three months. During the period, one policeman and 80 other people, including one Ansar member, were killed in the political violence while at least 58 people were burnt to death, according to the Police headquarters. The killings of one Italian and one Japanese national have raised concerns among the international community as such brutal attacks on foreigners are extremely rare in Bangladesh. Italian national Tavella, 50, an official of the Netherlands-based non-governmental organisation ‘ICCO Cooperation’, was shot dead by some miscreants in the city’s Gulshan area on September 28 while Japanese citizen Hoshi Kunio, who was engaged in private farming of cow fodder in his private land, was killed by unknown assailants at Mohiganj in Rangpur district on October 3.
One person was killed and around 87 others were injured when several handmade grenades were exploded in front of Hoseni Dalan in old Dhaka in the early hours of October 24 when members of Shia community were gathering at the building before the traditional Tajia procession was to be brought out from there marking Ashura. The gun attack on a Shiite mosque left its muazzin dead and three devotees injured at Haripur village in Shibganj upazila of Bogra district on November 26, while a suspected suicide bomber was killed and eight others injured in the suicide bomb attack an the Ahmadiyya mosque in Mochmoil area of Bagmara upazila in Rajshahi district on December 15.
Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested four suspects in connection with Italian citizen Tavella killing, while Masud, a member of banned Islamic outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was arrested by Rangpur district police in connection with the killing of Japanese national.
Besides, seven JMB activists were arrested in connection with former PDB chairman Khijir Khan, who was hacked to death in Badda in the night on October 5. On the same day, three young men attacked Father Luke Sarkar, 50, the priest at the local Baptist Mission’s Faith Bible Church of God, at his home in Ishwardi town’s Schoolpara in Pabna district. He, however, managed to escape with a cut on his throat.
Assistant Sub-inspector Ibrahim of Darus Salam Police Station was stabbed to death in Gabtoli on October 22, while police constable Mokol was hacked to death in Ashulia while on duty at a check post on November 4. Earlier, on April 21, at least eight people, including the bank manager and a robber, were killed and 23 others injured during a robbery at a branch of Bangladesh Commerce Bank Ltd at Kathgora in Ashulia of Dhaka district. Police later arrested several JMB men in connection with the incident. Blogger Ananta Bijoy, Washikur Rahman Babu, Niladri Niloy, Ovijit Ray and publisher Dipan were hacked to death allegedly by Islamic extremist group. Avijit Roy, son of noted physicist Ajoy Roy and founder of Mukto-Mona blog, was killed and his wife Rafida Afrin Banya injured seriously as unidentified criminals stabbed them near TSC on the Dhaka University campus on February 26. One month later, another blogger named Washiqur Rahman Babu was hacked to death by a group of assailants in Begunbari of Tejgoan industrial area of the city on March 30. Blogger Ananta Bijoy Das, also an activist of Sylhet Ganajagaran Manch, was hacked to death in broad daylight at Subidbazar Bankalapara in the Sylhet city on May 12. He was also a writer in the ‘Mukto-Mona blog’, founded by blogger Avijit Roy.
Another ‘blogger’ Niladri Chaterjee alias Niloy was hacked to death in the city’s Khilgaon area on August 7. Niloy used to express his thoughts and opinions through his facebook ID: Niloy Neel.
Publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan, owner of Jagriti Publications, was hacked to death in the city’s Shahbag area within hours of attack on another publisher and blogger Ahmed Rashid Tutul at Lalmatia in the capital city on October 31.
Earlier around noon on the same day, the owner of Shuddhashwar publisher Ahmed Rashid Tutul along with two others was hacked at Block-C of Lalmatia. Both Tutul and Dipan were publishers of slain blogger Ovijit’s books.
Islamic militant outfit ‘Ansarullaj Bangla Team’ claimed the responsibility of the killing of bloggers and publishers. Meanwhile, police arrested six suspected killers of blogger Ananta Bijoy and blogger Washiqur Rahman Babu. All of the arrested people also confessed before courts to their involvement in the two killings.
According to records kept at the Police Headquarters, a total of 3,752 people were killed, 398 incidents of decoity occurred and 859 other incidents of robbery recorded in different police station across the country in 11 months till November 30 this year, against 4514, 651 and 1155 in 2014. Around 19,953 women and children became victims to repression, while 757 kidnapping incidents were recorded in 11 months till November 30 in 2015, against 21291 and 920 during 12 months in the previous year.
According to Ain O Salish Kendra, a rights group, 42 Bangladeshi citizens were killed in border areas while 68 others injured. At least 59 people were kidnapped along the frontiers allegedly by Indian Border Security Guard (BSF) or by Indian nationals in the first 11 months in 2015. Besides, 171 people were killed in the hands of members of law enforcement agencies till November 30 this year, according to Ain O Salish Kendro.
