Identify and reject false murder cases

We are dismayed and baffled by the arrest of Mahmudul Haque, an assistant professor of journalism at Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur, who is well known for marching alongside students and the general public during the July uprising in Rangpur. He was also vocal in demanding justice for the killing of Abu Sayed, a martyr of the July uprising. Mahmudul has been accused in a murder case involving the death of Samesh Uddin, a grocery shop owner in Rangpur, along with 53 others, including ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader. Samesh died on August 2, and a report in this paper cites residents of the area saying he died of a heart attack while fleeing from his shop after police attempted to arrest a local Jamaat leader. Samesh's son has confirmed that his father had a heart condition.

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Stop retaliatory cases against journalists

Mahmudul has become a victim of the spree of false cases against people over the July-August killings by the Sheikh Hasina regime. This paper has extensively reported on and published editorials about the dangerous trend of murder cases (related to the July uprising killings) against hundreds of people. In June this year, Md Selim, a grocer, was listed as the deceased victim in a murder case over the July uprising killings. A report in this daily found that Md Selim was alive, and that he had been declared "dead" as part of a conspiracy by his brothers over an inheritance issue. Thus, murder cases are being filed, and sometimes the accused are imprisoned on flimsy and false grounds.

In many of these cases, the accused are from the hometown (not Dhaka) of the victims, even though the killings in question occurred in Dhaka. These false cases are filed not to seek justice, but rather due to personal vendettas. In most cases, those who have filed the case, usually a relative of the murdered victim, do not even know those they have accused—with the names being supplied by others.

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No innocent should be harassed legally

We are disappointed that, despite the law adviser's assurance that no innocent persons accused in these cases would be arrested, this has continued, with Mahmudul's arrest being one of the latest examples. This indiscriminate filing of murder cases against individuals on such tenuous grounds must stop.

Apart from the trauma experienced by the accused, this trend will also hamper the legal process of securing justice for the actual victims of the July uprising killings. The government must immediately take action to ensure that nobody can file a false murder case, and that the police personnel who register such cases are held accountable. The interim government must ensure that each of these cases is assessed to determine whether it is plausible and not filed in order to settle personal scores.