The Detective Branch of police has sought a revival of the case filed over the sexual assault on women at the Dhaka University campus last year during the Bangla New Year celebrations.
The investigation officer in the case, filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, filed a petition for its revival at a Dhaka court on Thursday, the day police arrested one of the suspected molesters.
The case was closed two months ago after police submitted a final report stating that none of the molesters could be identified.
Meanwhile, a metropolitan magistrate court in Dhaka sent the arrestee, Md Kamal, into a two-day police custody for interrogation.
Police said on Thursday that they had arrested Kamal from his house at Khaz-e-Dewan Road in Dhaka’s Chowk Bazar area the previous day.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesperson Maruf Hossain Sardar said Kamal, father of a son and a daughter, sold vegetables near the Panchayet office.
He had shaved off his beard after the incident to conceal his identity, he said.
The officer claimed Kamal was one of the eight suspected molesters the Detective Branch had earlier identified.
He said the man had confessed to his involvement during preliminary interrogation.
A group of men had sexually assaulted several women at the Suhrawardy Udyan near Dhaka University amidst Pahela Baishakh (Bangla New Year) celebrations on Apr 14 last year..
Police produced Kamal in court on Thursday, seeking a seven-day remand.
But Metropolitan Magistrate Al Masud Kamal granted two days for his interrogation in police custody.
The magistrate also turned down Kamal’s bail petition.
Police were initially reluctant to investigate the case but protests by student bodies and civil society, and a subsequent High Court, egged them on.
May 17, they spotted eight of the suspects on CCTV footage, and announced a Tk 100,000 reward for information leading to their arrest.
But eight months after the incident, police filed a report to a Dhaka court in December, admitting their inability to track the offenders.
Anisur Rahman, General Recording Officer of police at the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-3 in Dhaka, said the investigating officer had filed a revival petition.
But the court was yet to fix a hearing date, he said.
Source: Bd news24