Three police officials closed for 'assaulting' JnU students

Three police officials were closed yesterday for allegedly assaulting 11 Jagannath University (JnU) students in Wari Police Station in the capital, Wari Division Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Mohammad Farid Uddin confirmed.

The closed police are: Sub-Inspectors Abdul Aowal, Utpal Datta Apu, and Assitant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Md Nazrul Islam of Wari Police Station.

JnU's History and Culture department student Mahidul Islam and Accounting and Information Systems student Md Nikson told The Daily Star that police detained them without any proper reason.

The duo claimed that police detained them from Goalghat Lane early yesterday. When nine of their friends heard of the incident and came to rescue them, all of them were taken to the station. 

They claimed that police tortured them in the police van and at the police station.

However, ASI Nazrul Islam claimed, “Police did not torture any student, but they might have gotten hurt while being pushed in the cell.”

He claimed that police detained Mahidul and Nikson with material used for taking yaba. The ASI also said that the police had a heated exchange with the students.

Mahidul and Nikson, however, claimed that police found nothing on them related to yaba. Instead, the cops demanded Tk 50,000 for their release.

Meanwhile, a group of JnU students blocked Roy Saheb Bazar intersection protesting their fellow students' arrest from 8am to 9am yesterday, while another section of students staged demonstration in front of the university till 10am, causing severe traffic congestion on Gulistan-Sadarghat route.