According to authorities at the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), at least 286 charges concerning conflicts and violence at the heart of the quota reform campaign were filed in Dhaka in 23 days, with roughly 2,000 people being named and accusing another 450,000 unnamed people.
Between July 12 and August 3, at least 3,058 people were detained in connection with these lawsuits that were filed with different police stations throughout the capital. The number of people who have been granted bail in these cases thus far could not be determined.
Upon reviewing the papers of these 286 cases, it was discovered that 1,983 names were included in 61 cases with the names of unidentified accused, while in 123 cases, no names were mentioned despite the particular number of accused being mentioned. Including the 123 lawsuits with unnamed accused, a total of 184 cases involved 445,417 unidentified accused parties.
Furthermore, in 102 cases, it was reported that an unnamed accused person committed the acts; neither the accused’s name nor number was revealed.
On July 1st, a 24/7 movement seeking reform to the government job quota system got underway. On July 15th, demonstrators were confronted with the first attack, which was followed by several more attacks and student gunfire. But the Sheikh Hasina administration consistently claimed that Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP, not the students, were leading the movement. However, in every case, students were found guilty, and following the August 5th rebellion, the Sheikh Hasina government fell.
The decision to withdraw the cases was made on August 8, the day the temporary administration was formed. Asif Nazrul, advisor for law, justice, and legislative affairs, that criminal cases brought against individuals and students between July 1 and August 5 will be dropped within three business days.
According to sources, the prosecution department of the DPM began working on case withdrawals. “We have started preparation to withdraw cases filed during the quota reform movement as per the instructions,”
Between July 16 and August 3, at least 213 people were killed in shootings, altercations, and assaults that were at the heart of the nation’s quota reform movement. At least 64 homicides in Dhaka have led to the filing of cases. The case statements claim that terrorists or other miscreants disguising themselves as demonstrators fired their weapons, resulting in these deaths. Despite these 64 cases, nothing has been determined thus far.
In 65 out of 181 lawsuits with unidentified accused, at least 3,000 and up to 12,000 persons were accused. The largest number of accused is present in cases filed with the Gulshan division’s three police stations. Eleven cases were brought against at least 3,000 and up to 10,000 unidentified persons at the Badda police station. At the Gulshan police station, between 4,000 and 7,000 unidentified persons were accused in six cases each, while at the Vatara police station, between 3,000 and 12,000 unidentified people were charged in four cases each.
In 243 out of 286 cases involving 2,630 arrests in the capital that are at the focus of the quota reform movement, police learnt the political opinions of the suspects. 2,284 out of 2,630, or 86.84 percent of all those arrested, do not identify as belonging to any political party, according to the DMP. Other than this, 269 people—63 from Jamaat-e-Islami, 10 from Islami Chhatra Shibir, 3 from Gano Odhikar Parishad, and 1 from JP—were leaders and activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which makes up 13.16 percent of all detainees. Now most of them are out on bail.
Supreme Court attorney Shahdin Malik told Prothom Alo that in the past, the criminal justice system and police were used to frighten and repress dissidents, and that these cases were also brought forth for malicious purposes. An administrative examination of the reasons behind the police’s case filing practices is possible. Furthermore, he said, these cases could be overturned when petitions are filed with the relevant court.
, at least 286 charges concerning conflicts and violence at the heart of the quota reform campaign were filed in Dhaka in 23 days, with roughly 2,000 people being named and accusing another 450,000 unnamed people.){kind=link}