Police for action against 3 officers

The probe body formed following the sexual assault on women during the Pahela Baishakh celebrations has recommended taking action against three police officers for negligence of duty and failing to “assess” the situation during the incident.

The committee made other recommendations for a safe celebration of the upcoming Bangla New Years in its report submitted to DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia on May 7, said sources.

“We have submitted the report and the DMP commissioner will take [necessary] action [against the police members] based on the report findings,” committee member Jahangir Hossain Matubbar, deputy commissioner of Detective Branch (East) of DMP, told The Daily Star last night.     

According to Jahangir, two police officers – Inspector Saidul Haque Bhuiyan and Sub-Inspector Ashraful Islam -- were found guilty of duty negligence, while the third -- Assistant Commissioner Shahedur Rahman -- failed to “assess” the situation during the incident on the Dhaka University campus.   

Saidul and Ashraful were under Shahbagh Police Station. 

The three-member committee, headed by Additional Police Commissioner (crime and operation) Mohammad Ibrahim Fatemi, was formed on April 18 to investigate whether women were indeed sexually assaulted that day, and, if they were, to determine to what extent on-duty policemen were responsible over the incident.

Video footages of the assault on women sparked widespread outrage.

However, State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan and police high ups have repeatedly claimed that there was no incidents of sexual assault on the DU campus that day.

Bangladesh Chhatra Union claimed that they detained two of the “assaulters” from the scene and handed them over to police. Police, however, denied the matter. 

Close Circuit Television (CCTV) footages released later showed that police were taking a man away from the spot. But, police said they did not detain anyone there.   

The recommendations for taking action against the policemen came amid heavy criticism of police from rights organisations and left-leaning political, cultural bodies for brutally beating the demonstrators who were demanding arrest of the sexual assaulters.

On Sunday, police attacked the activists of Chhatra Union as they were trying to lay siege to the DMP headquarters also to protest at police failure to arrest anyone over the sexual assault. Thirty-four people were injured that day.   

The other recommendations include imposing restriction on the mass entry to the TSC, Suhrawardi Udyan and surrounding areas after 3:00pm to vacate the area before evening, deployment of more volunteers by Dhaka University, launching CCTV monitoring by DU authorities alongside with police during days like Pahela Baishakh, said Jahangir.

The committee also recommended setting up one or more large entry points into Suhrawardi Udyan ahead of such celebrations so that people could move smoothly around the TSC area.