Zainul Abdin files damage suit

Opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque yesterday filed a Tk 10 crore damage suit against seven government officials including the home secretary, inspector general of police (IGP) and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner.
He filed the case with Fourth Joint District Judge's Court of Dhaka on charges of insulting and assaulting him on July 6 last year.
Zainul said the physical tortures by the policemen, the probe report, the damage to his image and necessary medical treatments caused him a Tk 10 crore loss.
Judge Shahriar Kabir set October 30 to decide if he will accept the charges.
The defendants are the home secretary, IGP Hassan Mahmood Khandker, DMP Commissioner Benazir Ahmed, the then Additional Deputy Commissioner of Tejgaon Zone Harun-or-Rashid, Assistant Commissioner of Mohammadpur zone Biplab Sarkar, Assistant Commissioner of Detective Branch Md Obaidul Haque, and another secretary.
Zainul Abdin submitted a court fee of Tk 50,000 for filing the case.
In the case, he said police assaulted him on July 6, first day of a 48-hour countrywide hartal called by BNP.
Following the incident, a case was filed accusing 25 policemen, including Harun and Biplob, of assaulting the chief whip.
On September 3, Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Hasibul Haque dismissed the case, after a probe report, submitted by detectives, said the incident occurred after Zainul had behaved arrogantly with policemen and his accomplices provoked the law enforcers.