OC Moazzem must face music: Home Minister

Home Minister Assaduzzaman Khan today said former officer-in-charge of Sonagazi Police Station Moazzem Hossain will have to face the music for his role in the murder of Feni madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi.

Whoever is involved with crimes will have to face punishment regardless of his or her position, the minister said this while talking to reporters at his Secretariat office today.

If the former OC went into hiding, it will take some time to find him but he must face the trial, Assaduzzaman affirmed.

A tribunal in Dhaka on May 27 issued an arrest warrant for Moazzem Hossain on charges of recording a statement of Nusrat, a victim of sexual harassment, on camera without her consent and circulating the clip on social media.

After one week of the issuance of the arrest warrant, now police are saying Moazzem went into absconding. Police in Feni and Rangpur have acknowledged the receipt of the arrest warrant.

Judge Ash Sams Joglul Hossain of Dhaka Cyber Tribunal issued the warrant after Rima Sultana, senior assistant superintendent of police of the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), submitted a probe report in a case confirming the OC’s involvement in the incident.

The tribunal directed the police authorities to submit a report on the execution of the arrest warrant by June 17.

On April 15, Supreme Court lawyer Syed Sayedul Haque Suman filed the case against Moazzem under the Digital Security Act for recording Nusrat’s statement and circulating the clip on social media.

Following the case, the tribunal had asked the PBI to submit an investigation report. According to the probe report, the OC himself had recorded the video on camera and later passed the footage to someone else.

The footage shows that Moazzem was asking Nusrat “insulting” questions.

Nusrat, a student of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa in Feni’s Sonagazi upazila, was set on fire on April 6 allegedly for refusing to withdraw a case filed against the madrasa Principal Siraj Ud Doula for sexually harassing her on March 27.

She died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on April 10.

On the same day, the OC was withdrawn as Nusrat’s family alleged that he was not cooperating with them.

The police official was suspended on May 8 over negligence of duty and attached to the office of DIG (Rangpur range).