A case was filed against anti-rape protesters on Tuesday night as protests against rape and other forms of violence against women continued for the fifth day in a row on Wednesday in Dhaka and elsewhere across the country, demanding capital punishment for rapists.
The protesters, mostly students from various universities and colleges, are also pressing for exemplary punishment for perpetrators for other forms of violence against women and children and removal of home adviser Lieutenant General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury (retired) for failure to control the ongoing spates of killings, rapes and harassment of women.
The police filed the case聽 at about 10:00pm on Tuesday against 12 named and 70鈥�80 unnamed people over the 鈥榓ttack on the police鈥� during an anti-rape protest in front of the InterContinental hotel on the day, Ramna police officer-in-charge Golam Faruk told 抖阴精品 on Wednesday.
The case was filed hours after the police at about 3:00pm baton-charged the protesters demonstrating under the banner of 鈥楧horshon o nipironer biruddhe Bangladesh鈥� (Bangladesh against rape and oppression) on the road overlooking the InterContinental hotel near the state guest house Jamuna, the chief adviser鈥檚 official residence, towards which they were marching to hand over a memorandum of a nine-point demand.聽聽聽聽
The named accused in the case are鈥擜ung Aung Marma, 25, Sumaiya Shahina, 25, Adrita Roy, 23, Arman, 30, Meghmallar Bosu, 28, Al Amin Rahman, 25, Richard, 26, Hasan Shikder, 25, Sima Akhter, 25, Saikat Arif, 26, Maeen聽 Ahmed, 24, and Fahim Ahmmad Chowdhury, 25.
The named accused are the leaders and activists of student wings of different left political parties, except one. Meghmallar Bosu, president, Maeen Ahmed, general secretary, and Aung Aung Marma, member, Dhaka University unit of Bangladesh Students鈥� Union; Adrita Roy, member, Jahangirnagar University unit of the same organisation; Sumaiya Shahina, president, Eden Mohila College unit, Socialist Students鈥� Front; Richard, president, Saikat Arif, general secretary, central committee, Student Federation of Bangladesh, Arman, convener, Sima Akhter, member, DU unit of the same organisation, and Al Amin Rahman, president, Dhaka metropolitan unit of the same organisation; Hasan Shikder, journalist of a daily, and Fahim Ahmed Chowdhury, central general secretary, Democratic Students鈥� Council.聽聽
Accused Mashiur Rahman Khan Richard told 抖阴精品 that the case narrated a one-sided view of the students鈥� logical protest.
Demanding the withdrawal of the case, Richard also said that the named accused in the case were also the July uprising protesters and filing of the case by some over-enthusiastic police personnel was not acceptable and would stain the interim government鈥檚 image.
Terming the case as false, Socialist Students鈥� Front in a statement on Wednesday demanded its withdrawal.
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad in a statement on Wednesday expressed concern over the police attack on the anti-rape protesters, while the Communist Party of Bangladesh in its statement demanded its withdrawal.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Tuesday stated that seven police personnel were injured as some protesters swooped on them.
The case stated that the police requested the protesters not to create obstacle on the road but they attacked their personnel. The protesters pre-planned the illegal demonstration equipped with sticks and bricks, it read.
People from different walks of life, including students, left political activists, national minority students, handed over memorandums to the authorities, held rallies and formed human chains in Dhaka city and elsewhere in the country, protesting at the recent surge of incidents of rape and other form of violence against women.
Leaders of Left Democratic Alliance, a combine of six left political parties, on Wednesday at a protest rally in front of the National Press Club condemned the police attack on the Tuesday student march towards Jamuna.
They alleged that the police attacked the march unprovoked, demanding the responsible police personnel, particularly the plainclothes ones, be brought to justice.
National minority students of different educational institutions in the capital organised a rally and a march on Dhaka University campus demanding safety of all women, including those of ethnic minority communities.
Addressing the rally, organised under the banner of Dhakastha Adivasi Chhatra Samaj, at the Anti-Terrorism Raju Memorial Sculpture, DU student Surmi Chakma said that rape and repression were being perpetrated not only on the Bengali women but also the women and children of ethnic minority communities.
Most of the incidents of rape and violence against ethnic minority women went unheard of, while justice remained a far cry, said Surmi.
Chairing the rally, Ananta Tanchangya, president of Bangladesh Adivasi Chhatra Sangram Parishad, protested at the rape of a 17-year-old ethnic minority girl in Bandarban鈥檚 Rowangchhari on March 10.
He said that the government must play effective role to end all kinds of violence against women.
Ethnic minority students warned of tougher movements if the government and law enforcers failed to end rape and violence against all women.
Inquilab Mancha, however, organised a rally at Shahbagh to press a five-point demand, including the arrest of the 鈥榓ttackers on police鈥� mentioning the march as a 鈥榤ob鈥�.聽
The widespread protests sparked when an eight-year-old girl, now on life support in a worsening condition at Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka, was found after she had been raped on March 5 while visiting her sister鈥檚 in-laws鈥� house in Magura.聽
The chief adviser鈥檚 press secretary Shafiqul Alam in a press briefing on Wednesday said that the victim鈥檚 condition worsened.
The students of theatre and performance studies at Dhaka University also staged a cultural protest programme against rape on the campus on Wednesday.
A group of residents of capital鈥檚 Uttara under the platform Chabbisher Uttara (Uttara of 24) formed a human chain at Kadam Chattar in the area on Wednesday morning protesting at rape and violence against women.
The platform organisers Sohana Saki, Khadiza Tahera, Sulekha Rahman and others spoke at the programme, said a press release.
The Khulna unit of Sammilita Nari Odhikar Surakkha Forum organised a rally in Picture Palace area in Khulna city demanding exemplary punishment for rapists.
The Barishal district unit of Left Democratic Alliance held a rally and procession in Aswini Kumar Town Hall area in Barishal city, demanding stern actions to end rape, violence and misogynistic propaganda against women.
Socialist Party of Bangladesh-SPB Barishal district coordinator Manisha Chakraborty said that the government would lose its credibility if it failed to stop those.
