Arif Sohel, Jahangirnagar University quota reform student movement convener, was picked up from his house in Savar at about 5:00am on Sunday allegedly by members of law enforcement agencies.
The university students, meanwhile, brought out a protest procession on the day demanding whereabouts of the convener of the university unit of Students Movement Against Discrimination.
They also demanded release of Sohel who was allegedly picked up by 10-15 plainclothes people introducing themselves as officers of the Criminal Investigation Department and Detective Branch.
The students brought out the procession at about 4:00pm on Sunday from the university’s transport yard area which was followed by a protest rally on the premises of the university’s central Shaheed Minar.
The protesters chanted slogans calling prime minister Sheikh Hasina an ‘autocrat’ and termed the mass arrests as oppressive behaviour of the government towards citizens.
Addressing the rally, Ummey Khayer Edi, Arif Sohel’s younger sister and a second-year student of the JU fine arts department, said, ‘My whole family got frightened following a sudden police raid on our house. We demand release of my brother.’
‘Illogical arrest for joining a logical movement is not acceptable,’ she added.
Later, the JU unit of the Students Movement Against Discrimination held a press conference at the university’s Teacher-Student Centre demanding the release of the platform’s coordinators, including Arif Sohel.
Conducted by a joint convener of the platform, Abdur Rasid Jitu, they also sought measures from the JU administration regarding the release of Arif Sohel.
