“Giasuddin received a call from his office on Friday informing him that his duty was scheduled for 6am on Saturday. However, shortly after, he received another call stating that his duty hours had been brought forward. While leaving for Rajarbagh at 9pm, he mentioned that there had never been any movement after Friday evening in the history of Bangladesh.”
“The next day, at 7:45am, I got news that policemen had been killed and hung at Rayerbagh,” said Giasuddin’s wife, Jasmin Sultana, while crying.
Giasuddin was the Nayek of the police protection department at Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) who was killed in an attack by miscreants in the Rayerbagh area of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, centered on the quota reform movement.
Jasmin Sultana said: “When he left for Rajarbagh on Friday night, our daughter was crying and saying that there was a lot of trouble in the Jatrabari area. She was begging her father not to go out. But he reassured us, saying that in the history of Bangladesh, there had never been any movement after Friday evening and that there would be no problem that night.”
“We called him around 9:30pm, but he didn’t answer. We thought maybe he was sleeping in the office. An hour later, we called him again, but still, no response. We then called his duty officer, who said he hadn’t arrived yet. We were worried. There was no internet. I didn’t even know what was happening in Shanir Akhra, Rayerbagh, or Jatrabari areas.”
Describing the day, she said: “At 7:45am the next day (Saturday), we heard the news of the policemen’s deaths and immediately went to the spot. There were a lot of people there. When we got close, we asked someone if any policemen had been killed and hung there. He mentioned two policemen. They had been hung all night. He told us to see if my husband’s body was there - the body had just been brought down.”
“There was no part of his body that wasn’t injured. I didn’t know people could be so brutal.”
“Meanwhile, after getting to know us, the people threatened to kill us too. We managed to get a small van and transported the body. I kept looking at his body, imagining how he might have begged to be released while he was being killed. But for only Tk10,000, they took such a fresh life. He never misbehaved with anyone. He had a good reputation in the protocol department.”
“He was about to retire soon. What harm would it have done if they had shown a little mercy and let him go?”
Giasuddin and Jasmin have two sons and one daughter. The elder son is a third-year student at Dhaka College. Another son is studying in a madrasa, and the daughter is just 8 years old.
Jasmin asked: “Who will compensate for the irreparable loss I have suffered? My eldest son is still studying. Apart from my husband, there is no earner in my family.”
“As a mother, I cannot predict what the future holds for my children.”
As tears rolled down her cheeks, she added: “Seeing the worsening situation, I even left our house in Matuail. Miscreants threatened to kill us at any time. With this fear, we are moving to the village in Sonargaon.”
‘Beaten to death and hung’
Meanwhile, another policeman, ASI Mohammad Moqtadir (48) of the Tourist Police Headquarters, was killed in Rayerbagh during the quota reform movement.
Moqtadir lived with his family, including one son and one daughter, in the Tushardhara residential area of Shanir Akhra in the capital.
Last Saturday, July 20, at around 8:30am, he left his residence for the headquarters of the Tourist Police.
When he reached the Rayerbagh area, protesters confronted him and brutally beat him to death. Afterward, the attackers hung his body on the Rayerbagh foot overbridge.
His son, Mahfuz Rahman, a first-year student at Uttara Medical College, said: “My father was beaten to death and hung. I was in pain when I heard from my colleagues while bringing the body. I don’t want to say anything about my father’s death. My mom is sick. Neither of us is mentally well.”
What the police are saying about the killing of two policemen
Badrul Alam Molla, Media Officer of the Tourist Police Headquarters, said: “According to the autopsy report, there were no bullets in Moqtadir’s body. The injuries showed that he had been beaten. After being beaten to death, he was hung from the Rayerbagh foot overbridge. After we handed over the body to the family from Dhaka Medical College, it was taken to their village home in Mymensingh.”
The officers-in-charge (OC) of Jatrabari and Shahbag police stations expressed their reluctance to provide detailed information.
The OC of Jatrabari police station said: “Although the incident occurred here, we cannot say anything about it. Also, as far as I know, the bodies of the two policemen are under the jurisdiction of Shahbagh police station. They can provide the details.”
When asked, the OC of Shahbagh police station said: “We only conducted the autopsy and do not know much more. Now it is not possible to say with certainty who was hung after the murder, as both bodies were found on the road.”
‘Aim was to demoralize police’
Meanwhile, six people, including Demra Thana Chhatra Dal unit convener Masud Rana, have been arrested over the killing of the two policemen.
The chief of the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Harunor Rashid, said at a press conference at the DB office on Friday, “During the quota reform movement, under the leadership of Masud, two policemen were brutally beaten to death in the Shanir Akhra area on July 19 and 20.”
“State institutions and the police have been targeted, using young students as shields. They targeted the police in the Shanir Akhra and Rayerbagh areas. The aim was to demoralize the police. They may have thought that the movement would succeed if they could demoralize the police. They even announced a reward of 10,000 taka for killing policemen.”
He added that the arrested persons confessed to the murder during the initial interrogation.
The DB chief, who has meanwhile been relieved of his responsibilities, said: “Policemen have given their lives for the country and people at different times. We lost three policemen during the quota movement, but the morale of the police did not break at all.”
Police Bureau of Investigation Inspector Masud Parvez Bhuiyan was also brutally murdered by assailants while he was off-duty wearing plain clothes in the violence surrounding the quota reform protests.
Last year, Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) Constable Amirul Islam Parvez was beaten to death during a clash between the police and BNP supporters in Dhaka’s Dainik Bangla Mor on October 28.
In 2013-2014, at least 20 policemen were killed in clashes during various movements.