Staff Reporter :
Moazzem Hossain, former Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Sonagazi Police Station was arrested from the city’s Shahbagh, near the High Court on Sunday afternoon after 20 days of issuance of warrant against him by a tribunal.
The warrant was issued against him in the case filed on the charge of circulating video of Sonagazi Fazil Madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi’s statement taken at Sonagazi Police Station in Feni.
A police team arrested Moazzem from the Shahbagh area on Sunday around 3:30pm, said Maruf Hossain Sardar, Deputy Commissioner of Ramna division of Dhaka Metroplitan Police.
Assistant Inspector General (Media and PR) of Police Headquarters Sohel Rana said that Moazeem had been kept in lockup at Shahbagh Police Station.
He will be handed over to Feni police, said Shahbagh Police Station OC Abul Hasan.
On May 27, Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge Ash-Shams Jaglul Hussein issued an arrest warrant against Moazzem. But he could not be traced after the issuance of warrant for his arrest.
Allegations brought against Moazzem after Nusrat Jahan Rafi’s murder were found to be authentic by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI).
On May 10, Moazzem, ex. OC of Sonagazi Model Police Station, was suspended on charge of negligence of duty in connection with the death of Nusrat after an arson attack.
He was withdrawn and attached to the Armed Police Battalion (APBN) on April 10. Later Moazzem was suspended on May 8 for negligence of duty and attached to the office of DIG (Rangpur range).
According to the case statement, the OC called Nusrat to the police station on March 27 after she filed a case against Siraj-ud-Doula, Principal of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa, for sexually harassing her.
During interrogation at the police station, he asked her some offensive and unpleasant questions over the incident. Later, the OC spread the video on social media.
Earlier on April 15, Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Sayedul Haque Sumon filed a case under the Digital Security Act against him under Sections 26, 29 and 31 of the act for spreading a video on social media on Nusrat’s statement at the police station.
Syed Sayedul Haque alleged that the OC recorded the statement of Nusrat, a victim of sexual harassment, on camera without her consent and circulating the clip on social media.
According to the probe report, the former OC himself recorded the video on camera and later passed the footage to someone else.
The footage show that Moazzem was asking Nusrat “insulting” questions.
Nusrat, a student of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa in Feni’s Sonagazi upazila, was set ablaze on April 6 allegedly for refusing to withdraw a case filed against the madrasa Principal Siraj Ud Doula for sexually harassing her on March 27.
She succumbed to her injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on April 10.
Police have arrested the fugitive former Sonagazi OC Moazzem Hossain, who made headlines following the murder of madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi, 20 days after a warrant was issued against him.
Besides, Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) on May 29 pressed charges against 16 people in the case filed over the murder.
21 accused, including 16 charge-sheeted, were produced before the court on May 30.
