Father Arrested After Police Fail to Find Jubo League Activist While Trying to Arrest Him

Staff Correspondent

Police have arrested the father of a worker of the banned Awami League affiliate Jubo League in Dhamrai, Dhaka, after conducting a raid at his home. The raid was conducted at Bhabanhati village in Balia Union of the upazila around 12:30 am on Saturday.

The arrested Mohammad Kalim Uddin is 60 years old. He is a farmer by profession. His son, Engineer Rifat Ahmed, is a Jubo League activist, according to the police. However, Rifat claims to be an active Jubo League activist but says he is not a leader.

Dhamrai Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Nazmul Huda Khan said Kalim Uddin was arrested in a pending case. He said Rifat Ahmed is a leader of the Jubo League and a procession was held under his leadership a few days ago. A raid was conducted at Rifat’s house under the leadership of the in-charge of the Kaulipara police outpost.

According to the police, Rifat’s father Kalim Uddin was arrested after he was not found at home. The OC said, “His entire family is a supporter of the banned Awami League. That is why Kalim Uddin has been arrested in a pending case.”

However, the OC himself said that there was no previous case against Kalim Uddin and that he did not hold any position in the Awami League. He said, “There was no case against him. He is a supporter of the Awami League – he was arrested based on this information.”

Kalim Uddin’s wife, Hasina Begum, said that around 12:30 am, 10 to 12 policemen went to their house and knocked on the door. After the police introduced themselves, her husband opened the door. She, her husband, daughter and son’s wife were at home at the time.

Hasina Begum said the police first wanted to know about their son Rifat. After telling him that Rifat did not live at home and that the family had no contact with him due to political reasons, the police took her husband out of the house. He was later taken to the police station and sent to court under arrest.

She said, “My husband is a farmer, he is not involved in politics. There is no case against him. The police unjustly arrested my husband and harassed him because his son was involved in politics.”

Kalim Uddin’s daughter Happy Akhter also claimed that her father is not involved in any politics. She said that after the fall of the Awami League government, her brother Rifat did not come home and he has no contact with his family. She also alleged that the police took her father away without finding her brother.

On the other hand, Rifat Ahmed claims to be an active worker of the Jubo League and says he is not a leader. Regarding the police operation, he said, “I am not a leader of the Jubo League, I am an active worker, I led the procession. The police arrested my father to harass me.”

Police said the raid was conducted at Rifat’s house to arrest him, but he was not there at the time of the raid.