Staff Reporter :
Police have sued around 20,000 people over a series of demonstrations by Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh in several districts of the country protesting the visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh on March 26-27.
The police and victims filed at least 28 cases. But no top Hefazat leaders have been accused in any of the cases and made no arrest so far. However, most of the accused are unnamed.
Of the cases, nine were filed with several police stations under Dhaka Metropolitan Police, seven in Brahmanbaria, nine in Narayanganj, two in Chattogram and one in Faridpur. Over 50 people have so far been arrested across the country, according to sources at the Dhaka Metropolitan Police and the Police headquarters.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed said that the leaders of Hefazat-e-Islam were not named in cases of violence to avoid controversies. Police so far prosecuted those who carried out violence on the spot.
At least 14 people were killed in police firing on Friday and Sunday as protesters, mostly Hefazat activists, and police personnel clashed over Modi’s visit to Bangladesh.
Hefazat leaders claimed that at least 17 of their members were killed, over 500 injured and more than 200 arrested during the clashes between anti-Modi protesters and the law enforcement agencies, aided by ruling party activists in three days.
The Chattogram Metropolitan Police arrested Metropolitan BNP Convener Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury and some other BNP leaders for bringing out a procession supporting hartal the same day.
Md Anwar Hossain, Deputy Inspector General of the Chattogram Range police, said that there had been more than 20 incidents of vandalism. An expert team comprising members from the Criminal Investigation Department and the Police Bureau of Investigation has been called in. They will visit each of the spots and collect evidence.
Police filed a case against 500-600 unidentified people in connection with clashes between anti-Modi protesters and law-enforcement personnel, vandalism and arson attacks in the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque area on Friday.
However, police neither could name any Hefazat men in the case nor arrest any of the attackers.
DMP Deputy Commissioner (DC-Motijheel division) Syed Nurul Islam said that after the Jummah prayers, two factions of devotees locked into a scuffle on that day. We could not identify them. Investigations are on to bring them to book, we are analysing CCTV footage.
Four cases were filed with different police stations under the DMP’s Wari Division.
DMP’s DC (Wari division) Shah Iftekhar Ahmed said that they arrested and filed cases against those who have been identified through CCTV footage. There was no Hefazat top leader sued in these cases.
On the other hand, The IGP Benazir Ahmed said after visiting wounded policemen “If there is any work in our country, there are fields for creating controversies. We didn’t want anything like that to happen here. They don’t want to influence anything.
An investigation is underway. Action will be taken if the names of leaders or instructors are found in the investigation. We would not leave anyone out.”
On Thursday, after visiting the affected areas of Brahmanbaria, The IGP Benazir Ahmed said that people of Brahmanbaria have the right to safety and security. We will ensure this right. Those who have videos and pictures of the attacks should provide them to the police.
