Innocent RU student in jail for 2 months

A Rajshahi University student has been languishing in jail for more than two months after police wrongfully arrested him in a murder case.

His family members tried hard to get him released, but all their efforts went in vain.  

The victim is Shahinur Rahman, an evening MBA student at accounting and information systems department and son of the university’s Deputy Registrar Nur Mohammad Sardar. He is from Rajshahi city’s Shiroil Colony area.

Police arrested Shahinur from the city on the night of November 13, while trying to arrest an accused in the murder case -- Shahin Ahmed, son of Nasir Uddin of the same area, said the victim’s family and the plaintiff of the case.

The case was filed over the murder of a local Jubo League leader named Sanowar Hossain Rassell. He was killed earlier in the day during a factional clash of Awami League in Rajshahi. The clash broke out over getting work orders from the railway authorities.

Rassell’s brother Monowar Hossain Roni, the case’s plaintiff, accused 17 named, including Shahin, and eight unnamed people of committing the murder.

After the RU student was arrested, Monowar was asked to identify him at the police. Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Monowar said on that day he informed police that the arrestee and the accused were two different persons.

On-duty policemen then told Monowar that the RU student would be released later, he said.

But the law enforcers showed him as number-10 accused in the case and produced him before a Rajshahi court, which then sent him to Rajshahi Central Jail.

Talking to this correspondent, Shahinur’s sister Nazmun Nahar said his brother was in Chapainawabganj when the Jubo League leader was killed. “Police detained my brother instead of the real accused.”

“We went to the police time and again, but every time they told us that only the court can set him free.”

Monowar, the plaintiff, said police were not arresting the actual culprits and that the killers were moving freely.

Asked, Sirajum Munir, officer-in-charge of Chandrima Police Station, said both the OC and investigation officer, who recorded the case, had recently been transferred to another police station.

“We are looking into the matter, we are trying to resolve the issue immediately,” he said.

Shahinur’s lawyer Mokhlesur Rahman said he informed the court several times about the matter. “It seems the court is waiting for the police report.”