Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

A Bangladesh court on Saturday (October 26, 2024) ordered the police to submit the investigation report of a murder case against former premier Sheikh Hasina and 23 others by November 28, according to media reports.

The murder case was filed over the death of an 18-year-old college student in Mirpur, Dhaka, during a crackdown by the Hasina-led Awami League Government on student-led mass protests that led to her ouster.

On August 5, Ms. Hasina, 77, fled to India in the face of the violent protests against a controversial quota system in Government jobs, which led to the death of hundreds of people since mid-July.

Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md. Ziadur Rahman ordered the submission of the probe report by November 28 after the case was presented in his court, The Daily Star newspaper reported.

The case was filed on August 15 by the victim’s brother, who asserted that the accused were directly involved in or facilitated the violence that led to his brother’s death and injuries to other students.

Apart from Ms. Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader, former law minister Anisul Huq, and former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun are among those accused in the case.

Ms. Hasina is now facing 225 cases, including 194 for murders, 16 for crimes against humanity and genocide, three for abduction, 11 for attempted murder and one for an attack on a Bangladesh Nationalist Party procession, according to the report.

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

At least four more murder cases have been filed against Bangladesh’s deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her former cabinet ministers and aides, media reports said on Sunday (August 25, 2024).

kA murder case was filed on Sunday (August 25, 2024) against 76-year-old Ms. Hasina, former director general of Border Guard of Bangladesh Gen Aziz Ahmed and 11 others over the death of Abdur Rahim, an official of the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in 2010, state-run BSS news agency reported.

Also read | Bangladesh’s student movement and Hasina’s exit: the hard truth and India’s hour of reckoning

Rahim, then deputy assistant director (DAD) of former BDR, was an accused in the case lodged over the carnage that took place in Pilkhana in 2010.  He died in jail custody on July 29 of the same year.

Rahim’s son Advocate Abdul Aziz filed the case with the court of the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Akteruzzaman.

Another murder case was filed on Sunday against Ms. Hasina and 48 others for killing a student of the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement on July 18, the agency said.

Victim Shaikh Ashabul Yeamin’s uncle Abdullah-Al Kabir filed a plea to Dhaka Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Saiful Islam’s court Sunday, appealing to lodge a murder case against the 49 accused, it added.

Accepting the petition, the court ordered police to record the statement of the plaintiff and register the complaint as a first information report (FIR).

Awami League general secretary and former road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, among others, have been made accused in the case.

A separate case was filed against Hasina and 27 others over the killing of a seller of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) products in the capital during the recent protests.

Mamunur Rashid, the brother-in-law of victim Md Eusuf Sanowar, filed the complaint with Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Saddam Hossain. The court asked the officer in charge of Jatrabari Police Station to accept the matter as a first information report (FIR).

The other prominent accused in the case are – Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader and former ministers Anisul Huq and Tajul Islam.

Another case was filed against 25 people, including Ms. Hasina, over the killing of an auto-rickshaw driver in the capital during the recent protests.

Ms. Hasina, the Awami League chairperson, now faces at least 53 cases, including 44 for murders, seven for crimes against humanity and genocide, one for abduction and one for an attack on a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) procession.

Ms. Hasina resigned and fled to India on August 5 after unprecedented anti-government student-led protests against her government over a controversial quota system in jobs.

The Hasina-led government was replaced by an interim government, and 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was named its Chief Adviser.

Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students against a controversial quota system in government jobs first started in mid-July.

The slogan ‘This is new Bangladesh’ was spray-painted on a gate of a bungalow, to mark the recent anti-government protest that ousted then PM Sheikh Hasina, in the Dhaka University area on August 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

A case was filed on Wednesday (August 21, 2024) against Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 86 others on charge of attacking a procession in Sylhet city which left several people shot and injured during the recent mass protests on August 4, taking the number of cases against her after her ouster to 33.

Juber Ahmed, acting president of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal’s Sylhet city unit, filed the case with the court of Sylhet Metropolitan Magistrate Suman Bhuiya.

Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana is also an accused in the case.

According to the case statement, the accused attacked a peaceful rally, brought out by Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its associate organisations in Sylhet City’s Bandarbazar area on August 4, which left several shot and injured, The Daily Star newspaper said.

Awami League’s general secretary and former road transport minister Obaidul Quader, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, former foreign minister Hasan Mahmud, former law minister Anisur Rahman, and former advisor to the prime minister Salman F Rahman were among people named in the case.

With this case, Hasina is now facing 33 cases against her, including 27 for murder, four for crimes against humanity and genocide, and one for abduction, the paper said.

Hasina fled to India on August 5 after resigning from her post amidst unprecedented anti-government student-led protests.

The Hasina-led government was replaced by an interim government, and 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was named its Chief Adviser.

Bangladesh’s interim government has said it will try those involved in the killings during the recent mass movement of the students against the Hasina-led government in the International Crimes Tribunal.

Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students against a controversial quota system in government jobs first started in mid-July.

On Tuesday, she along with five other was implicated in a case lodged over the murder of private company employee Firoj Talukder in indiscriminate shooting from a helicopter by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) during recent anti-discrimination students’ movement.

Earlier Hasina, her son Sajeeb, daughter Saima and sister Rehana and 17 others were sued in a case filed over the killing of a fruit seller in the capital’s Jatrabari on August 5.

The victim’s father, Sultan Miah, filed the case with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Shakil Ahmed.

Another case was filed against Hasina and 49 others over the death of Md Omar Faruque, a student of Kabi Nazrul Government College, at Laxmibazar of Sutrapur on July 19.

Hasina and 24 others were sued for the death of 18-year-old garment worker Sohel Rana in the city’s Adabor area on August 5.

In Savar, Hasina and 75 Awami League men were sued over the murder of a barber shop worker on August 5.

In Narayanganj, a case was filed against Hasina, seven former ministers and lawmakers and 179 others for killing a bus helper in the Kanchpur area of Sonargaon upazila.

In Rangpur, Hasina, her sister and 49 were sued over the killing of a vegetable trader during the quota reform movement on July 19.

In Joypurhat, a murder case has been filed against Hasina along with 216 others in connection with the death of an auto driver in front of a police station on August 5.

In Bogura, Hasina and Obaidul Quader have been sued for the murder of a rickshaw puller on August 4.