A murder case has been filed against 17 people including former inspector general of police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun over the death of Begum Rokeya University student Abu Sayeed during quota reform movement in Rangpur.
Ramjan Ali, late Abu Sayeed’s elder brother, filed a petition on Sunday morning around 11.30am with a Rangpur court to register a case in connection with the killing of Abu Sayeed, who was killed by police gun-fire during the quota reform movement in Rangpur on July 16.
On hearing, the judge Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Raju Ahmed passed an order to Tajhat Police Station to record the case.
Former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, along with Rangpur Range former DIG Abdul Baten, former Rangpur Metropolitan Police commissioner Md Moniruzzaman, Deputy Police Commissioner Abu Maruf Hossain, assistant police commissioner Arifuzzaman, Officer-in-Charge of Tajhat Metropolitan Police, Rabiul Islam, Assistant Sub-Inspector Syed Amir Ali, constable Sujon Chandra Ray and 11 other has been accused in the case.
After requesting the court, plaintiff Ramjan Ali said, "The process of filing the case got delayed due to unavoidable circumstances. We want justice for my brother."
He demanded exemplary punishment of the criminals.
The plaintiff’s lawyer Advocate Rayhanuzaman said the whole world witnessed how brutally police killed Abu Sayeed by rampant firing. "We've accused 17 persons while kept 150 others unnamed. The court has asked Tajhat Police Station to accept the case."
On July, 16 Abu Sayeed, a 12th batch student of the English department at the Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur [BRUR] and a coordinator of the quota reform movement, was the first student killed in police firing when the police and the ruling Awami League-backed student organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League clashed with quota protesters on the campus in an hour-long confrontation.
On that day protesters marched five kilometres through the city to Begum Rokeya University, with Sayeed joining them. Police fired rounds of rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.
Despite the chaos, Sayed stood firm, refusing to budge. At one point, he was shot in the chest and fell to the ground.
He was immediately taken to Rangpur Medical College Hospital, where the attending physician declared him dead.
The video footage showed the police shooting him in cold blood. Abu Sayeed, who posed no physical threat to the law enforcers standing alone on the road holding no weapons, was killed by police gun fire.
This tragic death of Abu Sayeed triggered people across the country to stand against the then ruling AL government and that led the fall of AL government on August 5.
Sayeed, from Babonpur in Pirganj, was the youngest of nine siblings and was pursuing higher education amid severe hardship by doing private tuition.
He was a brilliant student and scored Golden GPA-5 from Khalashpir High School and Rangpur Government College in SSC and HSC examinations respectively.
Sayeed attended honours’ final examination this year but the result is yet to be published.
