A murder case was filed on Saturday against former prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina in connection with the death of a college student during the quota reform protests in the country. The case is the most recent in a series of legal actions taken against her since her removal from office.
The case, which was filed in Chandgaon, also names former education minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury Nowfel and 32 others, including several leaders of the Awami League, as defendants and includes an additional 40 to 50 unidentified individuals as accused parties, according to the bdnews24.com portal.
This is the seventh case filed against 76-year-old Hasina after she resigned as PM and fled the country on August 5 amid mass protests.
Hasina sought refuge in India on August 5 after being forced to step down from her position following massive student protests against a quota system in government jobs.
Early on Saturday morning, Mohammad Parvez, the uncle of the deceased student Tanvir Siddiqui, filed charges at Chandgaon Police Station, according to station chief Jahedul Kabir reports.
According to the case statement, Tanvir, a student at Government Ashekane Awlia Degree College, took part in the “shutdown” programme organized by the Anti-discrimination Student Movement on Aug 18.
During the protest at Bahaddarhat kitchen market, unidentified attackers, acting on the “orders and directions” of Hasina and Nowfel, threw bricks and stones and opened indiscriminate gunfire on the students. Tanvir who was shot during the incident, later succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.
A Chattogram University student and another individual lost their lives in the same event and location, according to the report. “The same incident led to the deaths of two others, including a Chattogram University student, at the same location, the report said.”
In the past four days, five additional cases have been filed against her in Dhaka. Four of these cases are related to murder, while the remaining case involves allegations of abduction and torture.
On Friday, a case was filed at the Bogura Sadar Police Station against Hasina and 99 other local leaders and activists of her Awami League party in connection with the murder of Selim Hossain, a 35-year-old resident of Palikanda village in Shibganj upazila, on August 4.
Hossain had participated in a students’ protest in Bogura’s Satmatha area on August 4, the day before Hasina resigned and left the country. The complaint alleges that Awami League (AL) leaders and activists, acting on orders from Hasina and Quader, attacked the protesters and killed Hossain using sharp weapons. Hossain’s brother accused the AL men of murdering his brother.
The first legal action taken against Hasina was for the murder of a grocery store owner, Dhaka Tribune reported Abu Sayed, a local grocery store proprietor, lost his life during a police shooting incident on July 19 in the Mohammadpur area of Dhaka
The incidents of violence that erupted across Bangladesh following the collapse of the Hasina government have claimed over 230 lives, bringing the total death toll to 560 since the anti-quota protests began in mid-July.
The International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh initiated an inquiry on Wednesday against the former prime minister and nine other individuals, focusing on allegations of genocide and crimes against humanity that occurred between July 15 and August 5, during a period of widespread student protests against her administration.
A formal complaint was submitted to the investigative division of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, naming Hasina, the Awami League’s general secretary and former minister of road transport and bridges, Quader, as well as the former home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and various other high-ranking members of the party.
The United Nations has decided to send a team of experts to Bangladesh to conduct an investigation into the deaths of demonstrators that occurred both before and after Hasina’s resignation from her position as prime minister as announced on Thursday.
(With inputs from agencies)