Fresh murder cases filed against ousted Bangladesh PM Hasina over deaths of protesters

DHAKA: Two new murder cases were filed on Monday against Bangladesh's deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and ex-ministers of her cabinet over the killings of two people during the quota reform protests in the country that led to her ouster.

These were the latest in the slew of cases filed against the 76-year-old former premier, who resigned and fled to India on August 5 following a massive protest by students against a controversial quota system in government jobs.

The separate cases were filed for the murders of one Liton Hasan Lalu alias Hasan in the capital's Mirpur area and one Tarik Hossain in the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area during the violence that led to Hasina's ouster, state-run BSS news agency reported.

Liton's brother filed a case against 148 people, including Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former inspector general of police (IGP) Abdullah Al Mamun and others at the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mehedi Hasan.

According to the case documents, Linton joined a peaceful procession in the Mirpur area on August 4 as part of the students' movement. At around 2 pm, men of Hasina's Awami League party started firing at the procession indiscriminately, injuring Hasan, who succumbed to his injuries later.

Meanwhile, Tarik's mother, Fidushi Khatun, filed another case against 13 people, including Hasina, former road, transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, former home minister Kamal, former foreign minister Hasan Mahmud and state minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat.

Tarik was shot by unidentified miscreants in front of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station on August 5 and succumbed to his injuries on August 9, according to the report.

This raises the number of cases filed against Hasina after her ouster to fifteen.

Late on Sunday, another murder case was filed by Shahnaz Begum, the wife of Md Milon, who was shot dead on July 21 while returning home from a local fish market, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.

As many as 62 people, including Hasina, former road transport and bridges minister Quader, former lawmaker Shamim Osman, and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, were named as accused in the case.

According to the report, leaders and activists of the Hasina-led Awami League and its affiliated organisations armed with firearms and sticks created obstacles to traffic on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway to disrupt the student movement.

It alleged that Hasina, Quader and Asaduzzaman ordered the shooting and attack on protesting students and the public.

Milon, who was returning home from a local fish market at that time, was shot in the chest and collapsed on the road. He was taken to Pro-Active Medical College and Hospital in the area, where he was declared dead, the report said.

Over 230 people were killed in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina-led Awami League government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students first started in mid-July.

An interim government was formed after the fall of the Hasina-led government, and 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was appointed as its Chief Adviser.