Sheikh Hasina At least three more cases have been filed against deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity, genocide, murders and abductions during her rule.
Her cabinet members and police high-ups are co-accused in the cases filed Wednesday with the International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka and the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court in the capital city.
One application was submitted to the International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity against them, and two other cases were filed with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) courts on accusation of murders and abductions.
Supreme Court lawyer Gazi MH Tamim petitioned the investigation agency of the ICT against Sheikh Hasina, eight other persons and Bangladesh Awami League, Juba League, Chhatra League and other front organisations on charges of committing crimes against humanity and genocide between July 15 and August 5 this year-the time of student-people upheavals.
The other accused are former ministers Obaidul Quader and Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former state ministers Zunaid Ahmed Palak and Mohammad Ali Arafat, former Inspector-General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, former Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Habibur Rahman, Additional IGP and DB Chief Harun Or Rashid, and former RAB Director-General Md Harun Ar Rashid.
Lawyer Gazi Tanim filed the complaint around 1:30 pm Wednesday on behalf of Bulbul Kabir, father of Arif Ahmed Siam, a class-nine student of 'Dairy Farm High School' in Savar who was shot in the area by police on August 5 and died from his injuries two days later.
"We have registered the complaint and thus the investigation into the case has started," said Ataur Rahman, Deputy Director of the probe agency.
"Upon completion of the probe, we will submit report to the Chief Prosecutor's Office of the tribunal for the next procedures," he added.
The case was filed hours after Law Adviser Dr Asif Nazrul said the interim government would take initiatives to hold trial at the International Crimes Tribunal of the killings that took place during the student protests.
Lawyer Tamim said, "Now the investigation agency will carry out a probe and submit its report to the Chief Prosecutor. Then he will formally submit the report in the tribunal. When the Chief Prosecutor will pray for arresting the accused, it will be registered as a case."
Meanwhile, another murder case was filed against Sheikh Hasina and 22 others over the death of Dhaka Model Degree College student Faizul Islam Rajon, 18, in the capital's Kafrul area on July 19.
Former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader, former law minister Anisul Huq, AL leader Jahangir Kabir Nanak, former foreign minister Hasan Mahmud, former state minister for information Mohammad A Arafat, Salman F Rahman, Juba League Secretary Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil, Dhaka City North AL Secretary MA Mannan Kochi, AL Leader Gazi Mesbahul Hoque Sachchu and former MP Kamal Ahmed Majumder are among the accused.
The list also includes former inspector-general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, former Director-General of RAB Md Harun Ar Rashid, former DB chief Harun Or Rashid, former DMP commissioner Habibur Rahman and former DMP joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarkar, AL leaders Mofazzal Hossain and Jamal Mostofa, Chhatra League President Saddam Hossain and Secretary Sheikh Wali Asif Inan, and Chhatra League leaders Salamat Ullah and Dipankar Basar Deepto.
Also, 500 to 600 unknown leaders and activists of Awami League and its front organisations have been implicated in the case.
The victim's brother, Md Rajib, filed the case with the Court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ahmed Humayun Kabir.
After hearings, Metropolitan Magistrate Ahmed Humayun Kabir recorded the statement of the complainant and asked the officer-in-charge of Kafrul Police Station to register it as a first information report (FIR).
It is said in the statement that Rajon was killed in front of Fire Service Station at Mirpur-10 intersection in the city on July 19 "by firing bullets when he participated in a peaceful rally organised by the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement".
Earlier in the day, Md Sohel Rana, a Supreme Court lawyer, filed another case against five suspects, including Sheikh Hasina, on charges of abduction and torturing him in February 2015.
Metropolitan Magistrate Farzana Shakil Sumu Chowdhury, after recording the complaints, asked the officer-in-charge of Uttara Paschim (West) Police Station to register it as an FIR.
The other accused in the case are Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Anisul Huq, former IGP AKM Shahidul Haque and former RAB Director-General Benazir Ahmed. Apart from this, 20 to 25 anonymous persons were also accused in the case.
Sohel Rana said he was abducted on February 10 in 2015 from Uttara in the city. "Later, I was tortured physically and mentally," says the complaint.
On Tuesday, the first case was filed against Hasina and her government's high-ups, over the death of grocery-shop-owner Abu Sayed in police firing in the capital's Mohammadpur area during quota-reform protests on July 19. Among the rest accused in the case are Asaduzzaman and five others.
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