- Wearing black masks, students of the physics department of Dhaka University lead a procession on the campus yesterday protesting the Pohela Boishakh sexual assaults
With little to report on six days of investigating the Pohela Boishakh sexual assaults on women on Dhaka University campus, police instead claimed the media were exaggerating the story.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah yesterday said: “After analysing the two-hour long CCTV footage, we did not find any acute sexual harassment at the Pohela Boishakh event. It was just a mere scuffle.”
He criticised the media for rebuking the police and holding law enforcers responsible for the incident.
Addressing reporters at the DMP headquarters, the DMP boss said the video footage showed some scuffles breaking out near the Raju Sculpture causing a woman to fall down.
He did, however, confirm that some sort of abuse had taken place and said a case had been filed with Shahbagh police station.
Asaduzzaman requested victims and witnesses to come forward and share information to help with the investigation.
“We have spoken to some witnesses, but they could not offer concrete narratives and failed to provide details,” he said.
He claimed that police had the environs of the Raju Sculpture under CCTV surveillance and had observed the pushing and shoving when it took place.
He said police immediately rushed to the spot and charged batons to disperse the crowd.
A DMP investigation team headed by Additional Commissioner Ibrahim Fatemi visited the TSC and Suhrawardy Udyan gate yesterday morning. They spoke to the Dhaka University acting proctor Amjad Ali, Chhatra Union DU unit President Liton Nandi and other leaders, several tea vendors, and policemen who were on duty when the incidents took place.
Liton Nandi yesterday said police had asked him what he had witnessed.
A DMP official told the Dhaka Tribune, asking not to be named, that the only progress the police had made was to identify some of those involved in the scuffle. “We know that four or five identified people belong to DU, but we are investigating them further,” he said.
Amjad Ali, however, said police detained and then freed a youth after taking his statement regarding the assault.
A university investigation committee headed by Pro-Vice-Chancellor Nasrin Ahmed has also identified four youths, he said.
Meanwhile, confusion remains over the fate of Shahbagh Sub-Inspector Shamsul Alam blamed for negligence of duty. Shahbagh OC Sirajul Islam had said the SI had been closed, but the DMP commissioner denied it.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
