A Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) leader has been released from the secret detention centre known as ‘Aynaghor’.
Md Atiqur Rahman Russel, first vice-president of JCD Dhaka College unit, was released on August 6, after one month and six days from the detention centre and narrated the horrific experience of brutal torture.
According to Russel, he was dropped on Dhaka’s Kuril Bishwa Road area around 3:00am on Tuesday.Â
Later, he managed to call his family members through a pedestrian’s phone. Around 5:00am, his relatives rescued him and admitted him to a hospital.
However, his physical condition is almost normal now.
Russel, son of Shariatpur District Journalist Union president Md Abul Hossain Sardar, was picked up by law enforcement agencies on the evening of July 1, from Azimpur Sapra Mosque area and tortured inhumanely. His whereabouts were unknown since then.
After Russel’s disappearance, his family members searched all possible places to know his whereabouts.Â
They went to the DB office, RAB offices, and various police stations in Dhaka, including DGFI, but could not trace him. No law enforcement agencies admitted that he was detained or arrested.
Without getting help, his father filed a general diary at Dhaka’s Lal Bagh police station on July 2.
On July 6, he submitted an application to the DC of Lalbagh Zone.
Meanwhile, Russel’s father filed a writ in the High Court on July 10 to get his missing son back.
The High Court issued a rule on July 11 and asked to submit a report regarding Russel’s whereabouts. But, there was no progress.
For a long month, he had been searching for his son in Dhaka and fell sick.
Finally, he was released after the ousting of AL government on August 5 in the face of a student-led mass upsurge.
Otherwise, it was doubtful whether he would have been found again, Russel’s family member said.
His family expressed their gratitude to all the media and well-wishers and party leaders who helped them to find Russel.
