Who will speak for people, then?

We are shocked to learn that Mozammel Hoque, a leading road safety campaigner and general secretary of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passenger welfare organisation, has been arrested on a dubious charge over “extortion.”

The organisation has earned wrath of powerful quarters by regularly publishing statistics on road accidents. His colleagues have alleged that the police officers, who arrested him, claimed to have done so with the instruction of the high-ups. Moreover, it's highly unusual for police to arrest an extortion-accused at 3 am. Prothom Alo has reported that the plaintiff does not even know the accused.

It is, therefore, highly likely that Mozammel Hoque has been arrested on a trumped-up charge days before the placing of a proposed transport act that hardly fulfils the expectations of the public.

The arrest of Mozammel Hoque is a new low. His works are purely related to public interest. If people like him are treated in such a way, who would voice for people's rights?