‘That’s my father in the van’
People continue to crowd CMM court to see their detained loved ones
Every time a van stopped in front of her, seven-year-old Jannat started clapping.
"Father, that's my father in the van," she cheered.
Jannat was standing in front of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka with her mother Mukta and grandmother Baby Begum yesterday.
While the little one knew that her father was in one of the vehicles, she did not know that the vehicles were prison vans and her father, Shipan Mia, was detained by police.
The 28-year-old was arrested from Gendaria's Dayaganj area on Friday night.
Mukta, holding her other one-year-old baby, told The Daily Star, "My husband works at a brass factory. He has no links with politics."
"He was arrested as a suspect," she said.
Hundreds of people, like Mukta, gathered at the CMM court premises yesterday, on a weekend, to see their family members and relatives who got arrested from different parts of the capital on Friday.
In usual times, there is a sparse presence of people at the court premises on a Saturday morning.
A 19-year-old Hafsa -- holding her nine-month-old baby -- was seen waiting for her husband, Kayum.
Kayum, 28, was arrested from the Azimpur Bus Stand area in Lalbagh early yesterday.
"Police said BNP-related photos were found in my husband's mobile, so he was arrested," said Hafsa.
"My husband works at a plastic factory in Islambagh. He is not involved in any kind of politics," she claimed.
"We can't even manage to eat properly. How can we have the luxury of engaging in politics?" Hafsa added.
Elderly Hena Begum reached the court premises around 9:00pm yesterday to find her son Sentu, 35.
He was handed over to Hazaribagh police last night by AL men, as he was a BNP supporter.
Hena said, "My son has three children aged three to 10 and works at a boutique factory in Kamrangirchar. He was not involved in BNP's politics for the last decade."
Kamal Hossain, 25, a degree student at Tularam Government College in Narayanganj, was arrested from Demra on Friday evening.
His mother Maksuda Begum said, "I pleaded with Demra police so many times to release my only son, saying he has his third-year final examinations coming up. But they didn't listen to my plea."
Bahauddin Bepary, 35, was arrested on the same evening while returning from Munshiganj after meeting his family.
"When my brother reached the Postogola area, police stopped him and checked his cell phone. As they found various photos regarding BNP, they took him to Kadamtoli Police Station," Nesar Uddin, 26, told The Daily Star at the court premises.
According to court records, around 844 people, mostly BNP activists, were produced before the CMM court yesterday in some 62 regular cases and 19 GDs filed on different dates last year and this year. They were arrested just before the BNP's rally in the capital.