Staff Reporter :
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Wednesday said, all routes have been closed for former Sonagazi Officer-in-Charge (OC) Moazzem Hossain to leave the country.
Fugitive Moazzem Hossain is in the country and he will be arrested anytime as a wanted accused under Digital Security Act.
The minister said this while talking to the journalists after ending the ‘innovation fair and showcasing 2019’ held at Prison Department in the city’s Bakshibazar on Wednesday.
Responding to a question, the Home Minister said, “It’s not that we are unable to arrest OC Moazzem Hossain. All the ways for him to get out of the country are blocked. He is still in the country. He will be arrested soon.”
Moazzem is accused of violating cyber security laws by releasing a video statement of madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi on Facebook before she was attacked in Feni.
The Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal issued an arrest warrant against the former inspector of police, but the police in Feni and Rangpur have been deflecting responsibility executing the order.
Transparency International Bangladesh raised questions about the police’s intentions to arrest the former OC.
“It’ll take some time to find a person who is absconding,” the Home Minister said on Sunday.
The following day, Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader expressed optimism that Moazzem will be arrested and said the authorities were ‘trying their best’.
Moazzem was in charge of the Sonagazi Police Station when Nusrat pressed charges of sexual harassment against her madrasa Principal Siraj-ud-Daula in March, recording her statement on his mobile phone.
The video was later released on social media amid widespread protests over a deadly arson attack on Nusrat allegedly by the supporters of Siraj, who had already landed in jail on the sexual abuse charges, in April.
A case was subsequently started against Moazzem in Dhaka under the Digital Security Act.
In the meantime, Moazzem filed a petition with the High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the case before the Eid holidays. But the hearing is yet to take place as Moazzem has not yet been produced in the court since.
On April 15, Syed Sayedul Haque Suman, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, sued Moazzem under the Digital Security Act in connection with recording the footage without Nusrat’s consent and spreading it on social media.
During the questioning, Moazzem taped Nusrat’s conversation without her consent and illegally posted it on social media.
The footage shows that Moazzem was asking Nusrat multiple “insulting and objectionable” questions one after another.
On April 10, Moazzem was withdrawn as Nusrat’s family alleged that he was not cooperating with them.
On May 8, Moazzem was suspended over negligence of duty and attached to the office of DIG (Rangpur range).
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 madrasa principal Siraj Ud Doula for sexually harassing her on March 27.
