Hefajat unhappy with relocation of Lady Justice
A court yesterday granted bail to four people arrested during protests against the removal of statue of Lady Justice from the Supreme Court premises on Friday. They had been arrested in connection with “attempt to kill police and obstructing them from performing their duties”.
Those who got bail are Bangladesh Chhatra Union General Secretary Liton Nandi, Dhaka College unit President Morshed Ali, Lalbagh thana unit Organising Secretary Al Amin Hossain Joy and Udichi Shilpigosthi leader Arif Noor.
Law enforcers on Friday filed a case with Shahbagh Police Station against 140-150 protesters, including the four, claiming that equipped with lethal weapons, they had attempted to kill policemen while demonstrating in front of the High Court shrine gate on Friday afternoon.
The four accused were sent to jail on Saturday after Sub-Inspector of Shahbagh police Mirza Badrul Hasan, also investigation officer of the case, produced them before the Court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate AKM Moinuddin Siddique.
Although it was a peaceful protest procession with hardly a hundred participants, who thought the unceremonious removal of Lady Justice's statue did not go well with the country's secular fabric, police filed the attempt to murder case against them.
The court yesterday passed the order after hearing a bail petition filed by Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust lawyer Sara Hossain.
Their bail would be valid till submission of the police report in the case.
The statue of Lady Justice was taken down in the late hours of Thursday night, a month after Islamist group Hefajat-e Islam demanded its removal from the Supreme Court premises.
Hours after the removal of the statue, police in the capital yesterday swung into action against demonstrators protesting against the removal, which they see as "surrender to radical Islamists".
The statue of Lady Justice was, however, reinstalled on Saturday night in front of the SC's annex building.
HEFAJAT UNHAPPY
Hefajat-e Islam ameer Shah Amhed Shafi has sharply criticised the reinstalling of the statute of Lady Justice at the SC annex building.
“Reinstalling the statue of Greek goddess was nothing but making a mockery of the country's religious sentiment and belief,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Terming the incident "very disappointing," the Hefajat chief said, “We are stunned and speechless along with the whole nation."
He demanded that the authorities concerned remove the Greek statue from the country forever.
Different other Islamist organisations, including Khelafat Andolan, Bangladesh Jamiatul Ulama and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, and Islamist leaders also came down heavily on reinstalling of the statue.
Bangladesh Jamiatul Ulama Chairman Farid Uddin Masuod in a statement demanded resignation of Chief Justice SK Sinha for his "controversial behaviour" over the removal of the statue of Greek goddess.
NINE ISCA MEN DETAINED
Police yesterday detained nine leaders and activists of Islami Shasantantra Chhatra Andolan (ISCA) in front of the Jatiya Press Club as they were protesting against reinstalling of the statue.
Officer-in-charge of Shahbagh police last night told The Daily Star that police had detained the nine around 4:00am. "We are quizzing them to know their motives and have yet to take a decision whether they will be produce before the court," he added.
The ISCA, the student wing of Islami Andolan Bangladesh, said police attacked their leaders and activists when they were staging a peaceful demonstration in front of the National Press Club.
They also brought out a procession in the capital yesterday protesting against the detention of their leaders.
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