Staff Reporter :
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) will enforce additional security measures in the capital today (Wednesday) to avert any untoward incident during 31st night, officials said.
They said additional police have already been deployed in the capital as part of visible security measures ahead of New Year’s Eve.
DMP earlier imposed a ban on all outdoor programmes and gatherings from 31st night to the next day on security grounds.
“DMP has taken additional security measures ahead of New Year’s Eve which will enforce from Wednesday afternoon. Such measures will remain from 31st night to the next day,” Sheikh Maruf Hasan Sardar, a Deputy Commissioner of DMP, told The New Nation on Tuesday.
He said police will keep vigilance on all the important places of the capital alongside intense intelligence surveillance. Rooftop patrols will also put in place.
Besides, plain cloth police will also guard the important points all over the city to avoid any untoward incident marking the thirty-first night. Maruf Hasan also said that diplomatic enclaves, Dhaka university campus and posh areas of the capital city will be brought under a security blanket with the deployment of a large number of law-enforcers.
Maruf said that bars will be remained closed from 6:00 pm of Thursday. Law-enforcers will also use alcohol detectors as a security tool.
Asked about the previous incidents, he said, “We have already taken necessary security measures to avert any untoward situation. Let us hope that these won’t be repeated again.”
Meanwhile, the authorities of Dhaka University have imposed restriction on the entry of outsiders on the campus after 6:00pm on Thursday keeping in mind the previous untoward incidents that happened on the campus.
On the night of December 31, 1999, some youths had harassed Shawan Akhter Badhan and almost stripped her at Mlion Chattar on the premises of Teachers and Students Centre (TSC) where she had gone for millennium celebration along with her three friends who were also assaulted and driven from the scene.
In another incident, several women, who joined the Bengali New Year celebrations this year, have been sexually harassed by a group of miscreants at Dhaka University’s TSC and Suhrawardy Udyan gate areas.
According to witnesses, a group of unruly youths swooped on a number of women and assaulted them in the TSC and Suhrawardy Udyan gate areas, while a string of festivities were being held there for celebrating the first day of the Bengali year, Pohela Boishakh.
