One year of Taslima’s murder: Probe drags on despite footage of crime
A year has gone by but little Tasmin Mahira Tuba's search for her mother is still far from over.
With no idea that her mother will never return, she keeps asking again and again – "Where is ammu?"
The four-and-a-half-year-old is disappointed with her aunt who promised that her mother would return from abroad soon. The family is also exhausted from making false promises to Tuba about her mother Taslima Begum Renu, who was beaten to death by a mob in July last year.
"Sometimes Tuba wakes up in her sleep and stares through the window. Sometimes she says she would not talk to her mother when she comes back. It is agonising to make false promises to the little girl now," lamented Tuba's maternal aunt Nazmun Nahar Nazma.
But what's more distressing is the delay in ensuring punishment to the killers, she said.
"It's been a year now but police are yet to complete the investigation and submit a charge sheet," she said.
On July 20 last year, 40-year old Taslima, a single mother of Tuba and Ta-seen al Mahir, a fifth grader, had gone to Badda Uttar-Purba Primary School to inquire about admission in hopes of getting her daughter Tuba enrolled.
But a mob beat her brutally to death there suspecting her being a child kidnapper.
Videos taken on mobile phones and CCTV, which went viral, showed some young people kicking, striking, and trampling Taslima amid a gathering of several hundred people, most of whom were just silent spectators.
The killing, which touched off a firestorm of outrage in the country, took place at a time when incidents of mob attacks on people labelling them "child kidnappers" suddenly got spike following rumours about the Padma bridge authorities needing human sacrifices at the construction site.
At least eight people were killed while a couple of dozen others were injured in mob beatings at different places across the country in July last year.
DELAY
While the investigation of Taslima's case is being lingered, five of the 14 accused arrested so far in the case have already obtained bail from the High Court and come out of jail causing frustration to the victim's relatives.
"The delay in submitting the charge sheet is very disappointing. The delay will be a huge setback for us as the other accused will come out of jail on bail one after another," Syed Nasir Uddin Titu, a nephew of Taslima, said recently.
"We will have no regret if the court considers granting bail to any accused after the trial starts," said Nasir, who filed the case against 400 to 500 unknown attackers.
Supreme Court lawyer Mahidul Islam Polok who looks after the case said due to the delay, important evidences might get missing and the case may lose the gravity.
"Since many people are involved in the killing, the case should be investigated actively and flawlessly with expert police investigators to make a flawless charge sheet in the quickest possible time," he said on Saturday.
Assistant Commissioner Abdullah Al Mamun of DMP's Detective Branch, who is now supervising the investigation of the case, said they have almost completed the investigation. The previous supervising officer in January told this newspaper that they would submit the charge sheet soon.
Mamun said the investigating officer of the case was coronavirus positive and almost recovered. "We hope to submit the charge sheet within two weeks after the IO rejoins the office," he said.
A total of 14 people have so far been detained in connection with the case.
Nasir said the concern is that no further arrest was made for a long time.
PROGRESS OF OTHER LYNCHING CASES
The Daily Star talked to police to know progress of investigation in six of the rest seven cases filed in the capital's Badda, Dhaka's Savar and Keraniganj, Moulvibazar, Narayanganj, Brahmanbaria and Netrakona following lynching of innocent people.
Police could not complete the investigation and submit charge sheet in six cases in the last one year. The only charge sheet is submitted against 15 accused by Kamalganj police in Moulvibazar in the case filed for beating a 50-year-old man to death by a mob.
Two of the six cases filed with Siddhirganj police in Narayanganj and Netrakona Sadar Model Police Station are now being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Department.
Police said their investigation into the cases have been hampered for the last few months due to Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the rights body Ain o Salish Kendra, 22 people have been killed in mob beating from January to June this year. Last year it was 65.
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