Of protesters and white microbuses

We are concerned by the way three university students, who are leaders of the recent quota reform movement, were unceremoniously picked up by detectives while they were travelling in a rickshaw and then shoved into a microbus and taken to the office of the Detective Branch (DB), allegedly blindfolded. Although they have been released, the incident has left a sense of unease in the public mind.

The detectives who picked them up have admitted taking them to the DB office for getting information regarding the vandalism of the Dhaka University VC's residence. If that were the case, why did they have to be picked up in such a frightening manner? Why were they blindfolded as claimed by the students? Couldn't they have been summoned to the police station for questioning as is the normal procedure?

The police have said that they had taken these students to verify information and show them some video footage but the released students have said that they were neither quizzed nor shown any videos. In a press conference the law enforcers have not denied apprehending the students but did not explain how they were brought to the DB office. They have also dismissed the allegations of blindfolding the students. Such contradictory versions from the DB officials and the students only serve to confuse the people.

While the police can take in anyone for questioning, given the fact that there have been enforced disappearances in the country in the past, such manner of arrest is sure to create fear in the public mind. And there are reasonable grounds to speculate that the purpose of arrest was to intimidate.