Tentultala playground: Protester, teen son picked up

Kalabagan police yesterday picked up Syeda Ratna, a community leader trying to save Tentultala playground, and her 17-year-old son.

They were released around 12 hours later. 

Ratna, coordinator of Tetultala Maath Rokkhya Andolon, and her son were detained when they went live on Facebook to show Kalabagan police building a wall on the playground around 11:00am, said Mahmudur Rahman, a local.

Ratna's daughter Sheunti Shahgufta told The Daily Star, "Police had been piling bricks and brick chips on the Tentultala ground since the night before. My mother was picked up when she went on live on Facebook at the ground in the morning."

"When my brother, an HSC student, went there, he too was picked up."

Contacted, Sharif Mohammad Faruquzzaman, assistant commissioner of DMP (New Market zone), said the two were picked up for obstructing police from discharging their duties.

The teen was released around 10:30pm yesterday and Ratna around midnight, he said.

He said Ratna was allowed to go after she "signed a bond".

As her attention was drawn to the matter, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, criticised police for detaining the mother and son.

"Can anyone answer where children [of the area] will play if this place [playground] is used to build a police station?" she asked.

She said, "The boy was kept in a police lockup. It is totally illegal because he is under 18."

She argued his detention was also illegal as he did not commit any juvenile offence. "How can they detain a boy who is below 18, ignoring the law and directive of the court?"

A photo of reportedly the boy in a cell was doing the rounds on social media, drawing flak.

On January 31, Dhaka Deputy Commissioner's office handed over the playground's land to Dhaka Metropolitan Police to set up an establishment for Kalabagan Police Station.

Locals refused to give up the playground. For several months, they've been demonstrating with the demand to keep it as it is for the sake of the children.

Over the years, Tentultala playground, which is on about a bigha of land, had been used as a playground, an Eidgah, and a place for namaz-e-janazas.

Iqbal Habib, joint secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, earlier said that in the proposed Detailed Area Plan, the ground was not earmarked as a playground. But in sub-zone-17 (Dhanmondi, Zigatola, Kalabagan and Kathalbagan), there is a proposal to keep sufficient open spaces for the areas.

According to the playground, open spaces, parks and water bodies conservation act, no one can change the characteristics of a playground. As the place has been used as a playground for a long time, changing its characteristics would be illegal, he added.

According to a 2014 High Court judgement, there is a specific direction for the DC office to take action against any encroachment on open spaces or playgrounds.

However, no such action is being taken in this case.