Bangladesh: Another case filed against deposed PM Sheikh Hasina, her aides

Dhaka, Aug 21 (PTI) A case was filed on Wednesday against Bangladesh's deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 86 others on charge of attacking a procession in Sylhet city which left several people shot and injured during the recent mass protests on August 4, taking the number of cases against her after her ouster to 33.

Juber Ahmed, acting president of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal's Sylhet city unit, filed the case with the court of Sylhet Metropolitan Magistrate Suman Bhuiya.

Hasina's sister Sheikh Rehana is also an accused in the case.

According to the case statement, the accused attacked a peaceful rally, brought out by Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its associate organisations in Sylhet City's Bandarbazar area on August 4, which left several shot and injured, The Daily Star newspaper said.

Awami League's general secretary and former road transport minister Obaidul Quader, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, former foreign minister Hasan Mahmud, former law minister Anisur Rahman, and former advisor to the prime minister Salman F Rahman were among people named in the case.

With this case, Hasina is now facing 33 cases against her, including 27 for murder, four for crimes against humanity and genocide, and one for abduction, the paper said.

Hasina fled to India on August 5 after resigning from her post amidst unprecedented anti-government student-led protests.

The Hasina-led government was replaced by an interim government, and 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was named its Chief Adviser.

Bangladesh's interim government has said it will try those involved in the killings during the recent mass movement of the students against the Hasina-led government in the International Crimes Tribunal.

Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students against a controversial quota system in government jobs first started in mid-July.

On Tuesday, she along with five other was implicated in a case lodged over the murder of private company employee Firoj Talukder in indiscriminate shooting from a helicopter by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) during recent anti-discrimination students' movement.

Earlier Hasina, her son Sajeeb, daughter Saima and sister Rehana and 17 others were sued in a case filed over the killing of a fruit seller in the capital's Jatrabari on August 5.

The victim's father, Sultan Miah, filed the case with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Shakil Ahmed.

Another case was filed against Hasina and 49 others over the death of Md Omar Faruque, a student of Kabi Nazrul Government College, at Laxmibazar of Sutrapur on July 19.

Hasina and 24 others were sued for the death of 18-year-old garment worker Sohel Rana in the city's Adabor area on August 5.

In Savar, Hasina and 75 Awami League men were sued over the murder of a barber shop worker on August 5.

In Narayanganj, a case was filed against Hasina, seven former ministers and lawmakers and 179 others for killing a bus helper in the Kanchpur area of Sonargaon upazila.

In Rangpur, Hasina, her sister and 49 were sued over the killing of a vegetable trader during the quota reform movement on July 19.

In Joypurhat, a murder case has been filed against Hasina along with 216 others in connection with the death of an auto driver in front of a police station on August 5.

In Bogura, Hasina and Obaidul Quader have been sued for the murder of a rickshaw puller on August 4. PTI