No evidence found

State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said he found no evidence of sexual assault on women during the Pahela Baishakh celebrations on the Dhaka University campus in the released footage of CCTV camera-5.
Talking to the BBC Bangla, he, however, said, "Someone has pulled a woman by her scarf [and the scarf fell on the ground]. A man close by collected the scarf and returned it to her." 
The Daily Star examined the one-hour footage of camera-5 and grabbed 50 screenshots of women being sexually assaulted.
For instance, the footage at 6:31:27pm shows a girl wearing a red dress is surrounded by four to five youths, making the girl unable to move. The youths then start groping her. Within seconds, 10 to 15 more men encircle her, each trying to grab her. 
Rights activists expressed concerns over the minister's comments, saying the comments might influence the ongoing probe.
"Anyone holding such an important office in the government should never comment about an incident under investigation," Ain o Salish Kendra Director Noor Khan told The Daily Star last night. 
"It may affect the entire investigation. The example given by the minister regarding a girl losing her scarf itself constitutes a sexual harassment as per a High Court verdict," Noor said. 

"May we ask him [the state minister] why is that not a case of sexual harassment?" he asked.
The incident of sexual assault has sparked a wave of protest at home and abroad. 
The minister's comments came hours after the High Court ordered the government to arrest the culprits within 24 hours.
Earlier, the HC had ordered the inspector general of police and the vice-chancellor of DU to probe the incident and submit reports before it by May 17.
On April 16, journalists obtained from the police the footage Asaduzzaman was talking about. Based on the footage, the print and electronic media reported that several women were indeed molested by several groups of rowdy men.
Social networking websites, including Facebook and Twitter, are flooded with screenshots of a man's face seen in the footage.
DMP Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam on April 17 had admitted to have noticed incidents of sexual assault in the footage.
"It was an act by some perverts," Monirul said.
A high-powered committee has been formed to investigate the matter and reported police negligence during the assault that went on for over an hour. 
Activists and political organisations have been staging demonstrations demanding exemplary punishment for the perpetrators.