Quota reforms protest: Police file final reports in 650 cases

Police have dropped charges of committing violence and cybercrimes countrywide against all the accused in around 650 cases, said a high official at the Police Headquarters.
Several top BNP and Jamaat leaders were among the accused.
Most of these cases were filed between July 17 and August 5 during the quota reform protests, according to case documents.
Investigators of these cases submitted the final reports to different courts over the last two weeks, praying them to relieve the accused of the charges, said the police official.
Mohammed Shah Jalal, additional deputy inspector general (crime range) of the PHQ, said they instructed all the police units to submit the final reports of those cases which were found to have been filed against innocent people.
“The investigation officers concerned will now submit the final reports after analysing the merits of the cases,” he told The Daily Star yesterday.
Regarding the murder cases, Shah Jalal said the IOs of those cases have been given similar instructions so that no innocent people face harassment.
“However, since murders have taken place, the IOs need to analyse and investigate why those crimes were committed and who were behind those.
“If the name of any accused was not included in the First Information Report, then the name should be included following an investigation. The IOs has jurisdiction over that,” he said.
Of the 650 cases, 228 were filed at the police stations under Dhaka Metropolitan Police, according to court documents.
Over 3,000 people, including leaders and activists of the BNP and Jamaat, who were arrested in the 228 cases, were relieved of the charges of committing violence and cybercrimes, an inspector at the DMP’s prosecution division told The Daily Star yesterday.
“A total of 290 cases were filed at different police stations under DMP between July 17 and August 5 centring violence. Of them, 62 were filed over murder charges,” the inspector said, requesting anonymity.
Except for the murder cases, police have already submitted probe reports to the courts in the rest of the 228 cases, clearing the accused of the charges, he added.
Police sources said almost all the cases were filed by police as per the directives of the previous Awami League government that fell on August 5 following a mass uprising.
A high official at the PHQ said most of these cases were filed accusing innocent people, including students, although violence was carried out by the leaders and activists of the AL and its associate bodies.
But then police high-ups, who performed duties unprofessionally, directed the field-level officials to file cases against those who were not involved, the official said.
“In some cases, the names of the some real suspects were not included in the FIRs of murder cases. We are now investigating those cases and naming those suspects in the FIRs.”
For instance, Sub-Inspector Nowsad Ali of Badda Police Station on July 28 filed a case accusing 8,000 to 10,000 people of killing private job holder Towfiqul Islam Bhuiyan. Towfiqul, 34, died from bullet wounds at a hospital on July 21.
The victim’s wife, Ismat Jahan Elora, last night said police did not communicate with them before filing the case.
Ismat on August 22 filed a supplementary FIR against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 112 other named accused, including several former AL ministers.
Another supplementary FIR was recorded with New Market Police Station in the murder case of shop employee Shahjahan Ali, 24.
According to the primary complaint, the case was filed against some leaders and activists of the BNP and Jamaat. But the supplementary FIR, submitted to a Dhaka court on August 18, shows that unidentified criminals were accused in the case.
Former AL law minister Anisul Haque, Hasina’s former private investment adviser Salman F Rahman, and ex-director general of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Cell Maj Gen (sacked) Ziaul Ahsan were shown arrested in the case.