Print: 28 Oct 2025
Hasanul Haque Nipun, a doctor at the state-run Bangladesh Medical University (BMU), has served 55 days in jail simply on suspicions of being one of the “unidentified culprits” in an apparently false case filed over Awami League-backed atrocities in last year’s uprising.
Members of a particular political party are leading a nexus of law enforcers, lawyers, and government officials in implicating thousands of unrelated people in questionable uprising lawsuits, and extorting millions from the victims.
In some cases, unrelated people have been named as accused not for money but simply out of personal resentment.
The home adviser, law adviser, police chief and other high officials concerned have repeatedly asked people to avoid filing weak and false cases, but to no avail. The government high-ups are helpless against the legal loopholes the opportunists are continuing to exploit.
According to the police, 1.5 thousand cases have been filed over the uprising-related violence, 600 of them being murder cases, leading to the arrest of more than 10,000 people over the past nine months.
Physician Nipun claims he was arrested without any probe, and that the case statement was full of “lies.”
In another uprising-related murder case, plaintiff Jesmin Akter has accused four police members and some brick kiln owners for the death of his brother from illness in February 2018, more than six-and-a-half years before the start of the uprising.
In the case, Jesmin has also accused her former husband and some local acquaintances, potentially out of vengeance.
Shortly after the uprising she had filed another case against 50 individuals, which the court later dismissed for lack of basic logical grounds.
Kaler Kantho has reviewed 35 such questionable cases filed over the attacks on protesters during the July-August 2024 uprising.
Some investigating police officers have claimed they are facing different challenges in pursuing the lawsuits filed following the ouster of Awami League dictators on 5 August last year.
Many of the postmortem reports were not available during the violence, many reports have gone missing, and, in many cases, the accused have simply been classified as “order givers” since the plaintiffs have failed to identify the on-site attackers.
Due to the vague denomination of “order givers,” many of the accused could easily go scot-free, while in most of the lawsuits, the plaintiffs have surprisingly failed to recognise the accused.
In this backdrop, while the real culprits are highly likely to evade justice, around hundreds are already spending jail time for crimes they have no connection to.
In many incidents, police are securing hefty bribes from the falsely accused promising them reprieve, but later detaining them again.
People from some specific classes appear to be the primary targets: cultural activists, film artistes, businesspeople, journalists, bureaucrats and police personnel.
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Politics, business fuel false cases over uprising atrocities
Hasanul Haque Nipun, a doctor at the state-run Bangladesh Medical University (BMU), has served 55 days in jail simply on suspicions of being one of the “unidentified culprits” in an apparently false case filed over Awami League-backed atrocities in last year’s uprising.
Members of a particular political party are leading a nexus of law enforcers, lawyers, and government officials in implicating thousands of unrelated people in questionable uprising lawsuits, and extorting millions from the victims.
In some cases, unrelated people have been named as accused not for money but simply out of personal resentment.
The home adviser, law adviser, police chief and other high officials concerned have repeatedly asked people to avoid filing weak and false cases, but to no avail. The government high-ups are helpless against the legal loopholes the opportunists are continuing to exploit.
According to the police, 1.5 thousand cases have been filed over the uprising-related violence, 600 of them being murder cases, leading to the arrest of more than 10,000 people over the past nine months.
Physician Nipun claims he was arrested without any probe, and that the case statement was full of “lies.”
In another uprising-related murder case, plaintiff Jesmin Akter has accused four police members and some brick kiln owners for the death of his brother from illness in February 2018, more than six-and-a-half years before the start of the uprising.
In the case, Jesmin has also accused her former husband and some local acquaintances, potentially out of vengeance.
Shortly after the uprising she had filed another case against 50 individuals, which the court later dismissed for lack of basic logical grounds.
Kaler Kantho has reviewed 35 such questionable cases filed over the attacks on protesters during the July-August 2024 uprising.
Some investigating police officers have claimed they are facing different challenges in pursuing the lawsuits filed following the ouster of Awami League dictators on 5 August last year.
Many of the postmortem reports were not available during the violence, many reports have gone missing, and, in many cases, the accused have simply been classified as “order givers” since the plaintiffs have failed to identify the on-site attackers.
Due to the vague denomination of “order givers,” many of the accused could easily go scot-free, while in most of the lawsuits, the plaintiffs have surprisingly failed to recognise the accused.
In this backdrop, while the real culprits are highly likely to evade justice, around hundreds are already spending jail time for crimes they have no connection to.
In many incidents, police are securing hefty bribes from the falsely accused promising them reprieve, but later detaining them again.
People from some specific classes appear to be the primary targets: cultural activists, film artistes, businesspeople, journalists, bureaucrats and police personnel.