DU teachers' ordeal drags on as charges framed again

Another Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against four teachers and 15 students of Dhaka University (DU) of breaching the emergency power rules during the August violence on campus.
The same day two Rajshahi University (RU) teachers and an official were acquitted on charges of torching a DGFI vehicle on August 22 while 10 students and an employee each were sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment.
In Dhaka, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Habibur Rahman Siddiqui set December 19 for recording statements of the witnesses. Before that, he read out details of the charges. Five of the accused were in the dock yesterday while 14 others were absconding.
The court rejected the discharge petitions filed by the detainees--DU Teachers Association (Duta) President Sadrul Amin, General Secretary Anwar Hossain, social science Dean Harun-or-Rashid, Chairman of applied physics department Neem Chandra Bhowmik and student Moniruzzaman.
Only a day before, similar charges were framed against them in another case and December 17 was set for trial to begin.
The courts framed the charges at a time when the university community was expecting unconditional release of the teachers and student. Earlier on Saturday, in a bid to defuse tension on the campus, the government assured the teachers' representatives that the detainees would be freed in two weeks.
Then on Monday, presidential clemency saw four RU teachers, each sentenced to two years in jail for bringing out a procession violating emergency rules, released from jail.
But the government has yet to act to withdraw the cases filed against the DU teachers and students. Many fear it might opt for the procedure it followed in case of the RU teachers and the detainees might not be released before completion of trial.
Observers and legal experts say the way the government is now trying to settle the matter suggests that it wants to establish first that the teachers and students have committed a crime by staging demonstrations in August so that no-one in future dares to do something similar.
Teachers have expressed frustration over the charge framing and said it all might lead to an uneasy situation on the campus. They it might take longer than what they had expected to have their colleagues and students freed.
The family members have already refused to accept a proposal for filing bail petition, saying they want their dear ones to be released with dignity as promised by the government.
CHARGE FRAMING
The five detainees were brought to the court at 11:00am. The case was filed with Shahbagh Police Station against some 4,000 unnamed students, teachers and outsiders for vandalism, obstruction and attack on the law enforcers on duty at different points across the campus on August 22.
Moving the discharge petitions, the defence argued that their clients were implicated in the case as part of a conspiracy to harass them. Their names were not in the first information report (FIR) and were included in the charge sheet only later.
The investigation officer (IO) has recorded statements of 29 prosecution witnesses including nine policemen during the course of investigation. However, no witness except the policemen has said anything against the teachers.
Justice Habibur Rahman Khan's probe report too says that the charges brought against the four teachers could not be substantiated and the government should be sympathetic towards them.
In no way could a teacher commit the offences mentioned in the case and so they should be cleared of the charges, the lawyers added.
Opposing the arguments, the prosecution prayed for charges to be framed against the accused.
After the magistrate read out the charges against them, the DU teachers and student present in the court pleaded not guilty.
The 14 students on the run would be tried in absentia. The court has already issued warrants for their arrest.
They are DU unit Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) President Hasan Mamun and General Secretary Saiful Islam Firoz, JCD leader Kamrul Hasan Kochi, acting JCD president of Shamsunnahar Hall unit Tanjeen Chowdhury Lili, Rokeya Hall JCD President Shahinoor Nargis, Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) DU unit Vice-President Aparna Rani Pal, Rifat Hossain Jiku, Nazrul Islam Russell, Shamsul Kabir Rahat, Mitul, Aziz Hasan, Rokonuzzaman, Kamruzzaman and Anwar Hossain.
Police pressed charges in the case on September 9. Advocates Syed Rezaur Rahman, Sahara Khatun, Porimal Chandra Guha, Khondaker Abdul Mannan and Masud Ahmed Talukder stood for the accused.
PROF ANWAR'S STATEMENT
During the hearing, Prof Anwar told the court that he has never committed any crime during his career spanning 33 years.
He said, "There is not a single incident that will indicate that I failed as a teacher or as a human being. However, it would not be appropriate to say that there is not a single incident. In 1976, I along with my brother Colonel Abu Taher (Bir Uttam) and others were tried by a special military tribunal. My brother was hanged and I was sentenced to jail. That was possible because the special military tribunal was not an independent one and everyone knew that what was going on was a sham in the name of the law.
"Well, here I am again before a court of law facing another trial. The conditions however are very much different now. The judiciary is independent after years of struggle. The judge before me has the opportunity to do what is right. He has been given the independence to give his verdict without intimidation or pressure.
"I swear with my hand across my heart that I have not done anything wrong during the incidents sparked off on the Dhaka University campus. It was my moral duty to extend support to my students and if I ever get the opportunity to do it again I will. I did it in 1990 during the fall of Ershad, I did it in 2001 when the police entered Shamshunnahar Hall and beat up our female students. I did it again on August 20, 21, 22 and 23, 2007."
RAJSHAHI
Our staff correspondent from Rajshahi adds: Besides sentencing the 10 students and an employee to rigorous imprisonment, the Rajshahi Speedy Trial Court fined each of them Tk 5,000. The convicts will serve three more months in jail for failure to pay the fine.
Those acquitted--Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan Sajal and Golam Sabbir Sattar Tapu of geology and mining department, and Sadikul Islam, deputy chief information officer of RU Public Relations, were released from the Rajshahi Central Jail at 5:00pm.
The convicted students--Bangladesh Chhatra League RU unit secretary Ayenuddin, Dipayan Sarkar Dip, Mizanur Rahman Mithu, Sardar Ayaz, SM Fakrul Islam Raihan, Abu Sayem, Shamim Ahmed, Kazi Abdul Latif, Shakhawat Hossain, Aziz Bin Kamal Uzzal--were tried in absentia.
Besides, Ataur Rahman, driver of a former RU vice-chancellor, was found guilty of the offence. He and the ones acquitted were present during delivery of the judgment at a jam-packed courtroom.
Following the campus unrest on August 21 and 22, police filed four cases against 30 people including eight teachers and 21 students.
Trial of two cases has already ended while charge sheets against 11 other students in two other cases wait to be accepted by courts.
JUDGMENT SPEECH
Before passing the judgment, the court said documents seeking to back up the allegations suggest that the two teachers were aware beforehand that the DGFI car would enter the campus at 2:00pm and its engine would stall at the Paris Road Crossing. It is absolutely implausible.
The prosecution tried to prove the charges on basis of a video cassette, pictures, mobile phone call lists and statements of 22 witnesses. But they did not take any initiative to identify those in the video footage and photos, it added.
The RU VC, pro-VC and proctor were present during the occurrence, still they were not made witnesses in the case. The prosecution also did not bother to place as evidence the sticks and bamboos alleged to have been used in the attack, the court observed.
Defence lawyers raised a number of questions and many of those were found to have been crucial and grounded in logic. They pointed out that the teachers, also key witnesses in RU professor S Taher Ahmed murder case, are victims of conspiracy by vested interests allied with the law enforcement agencies, the judge continued.
The prosecution submitted cellphone call registers of a period between 9:38am and 12:30pm, but the DGFI vehicle entered the campus at 2:15pm and the attack took place at 2:30pm.
The investigation officer could not prove that the teachers had incited the demonstrators to violence.
Depositions of complainant and prosecution witnesses too bore contradictions. They said they watched the video footage on August 26 and 30, then question arises how they identified the accused on August 23, asked the court.
The prosecution witnesses said they were confined at the VC's residence after the attack and if so, how come they claim to have shot the film.
The court, however, concluded that the DGFI vehicle was in fact torched and the incident was filmed by an outsider. PR official Sadikul Islam had seized the footage on orders from the university authorities.
Additional Public Prosecutor Masum Ahmed Tipu and Court Sub-Inspector Shamsul Alam moved for the state while Golam Arif Tipu, Hamidul Haque and Mansur Ahmed for the defendants.