Last week, when school and college students took to the streets of Dhaka to protest the death of two of their fellow students in a road accident, amateur photographer Saraben Turin went out to see for what was happening.
On July 31, the third day of the protests, Turin came to light when a video of her getting a school student away from police went viral on social media.
She shared what she witnessed that day with the Dhaka Tribune.
“My friends and I noticed some police officials detaining a student without any reason, so we intervened,” she said.
In the video, she was identified as a photojournalist; however, she later clarified that she was an entrepreneur with photography as a hobby.
“We [Turin and her friends] are not journalists. We are amateur photographers,” she said.
Recalling the day's events, Turin said she and her friends were on a bus.
“They [the protesters] stopped our bus and found that the driver did not have licence, so they asked the passengers to get down.”
Agreeing with the students, Turin and her friends, along with other passengers, got offthe bus.
“We are not college students any more. But we understood that this was their [the students] way of protesting – checking vehicles for driving licences and fitness certificates. So we did what they asked of us.”
The bus was then vandalized – but not by the students.
Saraben Turin assists a student who was being detained by police | Screenshot
“The students did not do it,” Turin told the Dhaka Tribune. “All they only asked the passengers to leave a bus whose driver did not have proper documents. It was the other passengers who vandalized it.”
Shortly afterwards, police arrived at the scene.
“Police started slapping the students and tried to drag them towards the police vehicles. We could not stand and watch this.”
Around 5:30pm, seeing police officials dragging one of the students towards a police van in front of the Lab Aid Hospital on Mirpur Road, Turin and her friends quickly stepped in.
“When I asked police to let him go, one of the police officials said: 'Don't get involved in this. You don't understand.' I warned them if they did not let the child go, the situation would get worse,” Turin said. “I told them not to arrest or detain any children.”
Police eventually let the student go.
Turin said it was her responsibility as a human being to save an innocent child.
Asked about the students' movement, she said: “I don't want to make any comment on the system, but I do want to say that everyone has the right to live a safe, normal life. These children are our future. I hope police will not bring any charges against them.”