Vandals were inspired by Hefajat leaders

Police arrested two madrasa students on charges of damaging a sculpture of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Kushtia.

The students, both aged 14, admitted that they vandalised the sculpture on Friday night after they were inspired by the recent anti-sculpture statements from Hefajat-e-Islam leaders Maulana Mamunul Haque and Maulana Faizul Haque, officials told a press briefing at Kushtia Police Lines yesterday.

Two teachers, Alamin, 33 and Yusuf, 38, of Masud (R:) Madrasa in the Jugia area of ​​Kushtia, were also arrested for helping the students flee after they vandalised the sculpture.

The right hand, face, and part of the left hand of the sculpture being constructed at Panch Rastar More in Kushtia Municipality were damaged.

Investigators identified the two after going through footage from CCTV cameras on nearby streets, a bank, and an ATM booth, Superintendent of Police SM Tanvir Arafath told the briefing.

The footage showed two men, carrying small backpacks, and clad in pajama, panjabi and prayer hat, attacked the sculpture with iron rods at 2:16am and then left the area within a minute.

Police officers on Saturday afternoon talked to two other students of the madrasa who gave them the names of the suspects. The officers raided the madrasa in the evening and found the two teachers, Alamin and Yusuf, who admitted that the boys returned to the madrasa after damaging the sculpture and told them what they had done. The teachers then sent them home the next morning, the SP added.

Officers arrested the suspects at their village homes in Daulatpur Mirpur upazilas within hours.

Police have filed a case under the Special Powers Act 1984 and the duo will be taken to court today.

Meanwhile, a Supreme Court lawyer yesterday filed a writ petition with the High Court, seeking its directives on the government to protect and preserve all sculptures, including those of the Father of the Nation, across the country.

Uttam Kumar Lahiri submitted the petition as a public interest litigation to the HC, also praying to the court to order the director general of Bangladesh Islamic Foundation and Khatib of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque to take necessary steps so that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is not brought into religious matters in any manner.

Uttam's lawyer Nahid Sultana Juthi said Bangabandhu is the architect of the independence of Bangladesh and his sculpture is a symbol of the independence, and therefore, his sculpture must be protected and preserved.

The respondents are bound to protect all the monuments under Article 24 of the constitution, she told The Daily Star.

Secretaries to the ministries of home, Liberation War affairs, religious affairs, inspector general of police, director general of Bangladesh Islamic Foundation and Khatib of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque have been mentioned as respondents in the required directives, she said.

The HC might hear the writ petition today, she added.

In Barishal, law enforcers beefed up security to protect the sculptures of Bangabandhu yesterday morning.

There are 14 murals and sculptures in the city and policemen will be deployed round the clock to protect them, said Barishal SP Saiful Islam.

Activists of Awami League and its front organisations marched the streets denouncing fundamentalists.

[Our correspondents in Kushtia and Barishal contributed to the report]