Harassing a road safety campaigner
The Daily Star's investigative report on the extortion case filed against Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury, secretary general of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, has brought to light some major anomalies which question the authenticity of the case. Our reporters have found that the statements of the three witnesses in the case are identical, every detail of it, although the statements were taken at different times, and their addresses given in the charge sheet were also found to be false. What is more, the prime witness of the case told The Daily Star that he was not even aware that he was a witness in the case until a few days ago and that he didn't even know who Mozammel was. Also, the complainant of the case, a transport worker, said that he was not aware of the case and that he only signed a paper brought to him by some transport leaders. All these point to the fact that it was a fabricated case and a conspiracy against the road safety campaigner, whose organisation has been working to ensure passengers' rights and to make our roads safe.
The case against Mozammel was filed in September 2018 and police pressed charges against him on May 31 this year. We wonder what the police did in these eight months as the basic information of the complainant and the witnesses is wrong. Are we to believe that the charges have been pressed against the person based on a made-up case?
Now, the question is: why was Mozammel targeted? Was it his fault that he wanted our roads to be safe? The government accused his organisation several times in the past of giving "confusing information" about road accidents and the death tolls. His figures about road accidents may have been wrong, but that could have been countered by a government statement. But instead of doing that, some quarters in the transport sector have chosen to harass him by implicating him in a case which appears to be trumped up. This is anathema to the rule of law.
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