A court in Bangladesh opened Tuesday a murder investigation into ousted ex-premier Sheikh Hasina and six top figures in her administration over the police killing of a man during civil unrest last month.
A week ago, Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter to neighbouring India as protesters flooded Dhaka’s streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted tenure.
“A case has been filed against Sheikh Hasina and six more,” said Mamun Mia, a lawyer who brought the case on behalf of a private citizen.
He added that the Dhaka Metropolitan Court had ordered police to accept “the murder case against the accused persons”, the first step in a criminal investigation under Bangladeshi law.
Mia’s filing with the court also named Asaduzzaman Khan, Hasina’s former home minister, and Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of Hasina’s Awami League party.
In addition, it named four top police officers appointed by Hasina’s government who have since vacated their posts, including former police inspector general Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.
It also named detective branch chief Harun-or-Rashid and senior Dhaka Metropolitan Police officers Habibur Rahman and Biplob Kumar Sarker.
Police take control of Dhaka streets
Bangladeshi police resumed patrols of the capital, Dhaka, on Monday, ending a weeklong strike that had created a law and order vacuum caused by recent uprisings.
Officers vanished from the streets of the sprawling megacity of 20 million people last week after Hasina’s resignation and flight abroad ended her 15-year rule.
Police were loathed for spearheading a lethal crackdown on the weeks of protests that forced her departure, with 42 officers among the more than 450 people killed.
They had vowed not to resume work until their safety on duty was guaranteed but agreed to return after late-night talks with the new interim government, helmed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
“It’s good to be back,” Assistant Commissioner Snehasish Das told AFP while directing traffic at a busy intersection. “As we feel secure now, we are back on duty.”
Student-led protests against Hasina’s government had been largely peaceful until police attempted to disperse them violently. Yunus told reporters that Bangladesh was experiencing a “revolution” after Hasina’s ouster after ” the whole government’s business collapsed”.
He said he had been instructed by the protests’ student leaders to take office, adding he told them, “Because you ordered me to do this, I take your order.”
Several top Hasina allies, including the chief justice and the central bank governor, stepped down after students issued them ultimatums to quit their offices.
However, Yunus said their resignations had been conducted legally.
“I’m sure they will find the legal way to justify all of this because legally… all the steps were followed,” he said at a late-night briefing on Sunday.
Around 450 of the country’s 600 police stations were targeted in arson and vandalism attacks over the past month, according to the national police union.
In the police’s absence, the students who led the protests that toppled Hasina volunteered to restore law and order after looting and reprisal attacks in the hours following her departure.
They acted as traffic wardens, formed overnight neighbourhood watch patrols and guarded Hindu temples and other places of worship, quickly settling the unrest.
Arrests in India
India has arrested nearly a dozen Bangladeshis attempting to cross the border to escape violence and political tumult following deadly protests that led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, border officials said on Monday.
Hundreds more are waiting along the frontier pleading for permission to cross, India’s Border Security Force (BSF) said.
BSF said 11 Bangladesh nationals had been arrested since Sunday trying to “sneak” across the frontier into West Bengal state. “Several hundred Bangladeshi nationals are still waiting in no-man’s land to cross over the border,” BSF deputy inspector general Amit Kumar Tyagi said.
